Not All Things Found Are Lost
by MasterMind13
Summary: A year after her battle with the Other Mother, Coraline finds herself in another fight after she finds the stitchpunks in her home. But the problem is the stitchpunks are not the only ones that crossed to her world. Will they ever be free?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first crossover fanfiction with 9 and Coraline. I've seen a lot fanart with these two, but..not a lot of fanfics. So I decided to write one. I hope you all like it. My friend, darkgirl11, came up with the title. I hope I did okay. Well, enjoy the story.**

* * *

Coraline Jones wandered outside, observing the garden area. Pushing open the iron gates she entered the picturesque garden filled with red tulips that shined underneath the sun. She ran a hand through her blue-dyed hair, taking a moment to take in the scenery, and finally she took a seat on one of the benches.

It had been a year.

A year since Coraline moved in. A year since her journey through the little door behind the wallpaper. A year since she fought the wicked beldam and saved the tragic ghost children. A year since it all passed.

The whole journey was a dangerous and disastrous task. It was a game to see if Coraline would stay in the Other World or leave with her parents. Coraline would not accept sewing buttons into her eyes, so she challenged the beldam to a game: finding the ghosts' eyes and her parents. She found them all, with help from her friend, a black cat. The cat had the ability to talk in the Other World. Coraline would see him around the garden every now and then, probably keeping an eye on her. She had been grateful to him.

Coraline also learned a valuable lesson in the Other World. More than one lesson, actually. She learned to never take things for granted. She learned to be happy with what she has. And she learned to try something new. To take charge of that, Coraline started helping out around the house without being asked. Four months ago, she asked Mr. Bobinsky if he could teach her Russian. She was bashful when she asked, but he taught her enough to be at a rudimentary level.

Even Miss Spink and Miss Forcible were good company now, even if they were dingbats, as Mrs. Jones puts it.

Wybie had been a good friend to her. When they first met, Coraline had been cold towards him. She would get annoyed with him, and his incessant chatter. But now, after all that's happened, Wybie was now one of her closest friends.

Coraline looked up at the red tulips. In an instant, she remembered the surreal garden in the Other World. It was all too beautiful and magnificent. The whole garden had been a portrait of her. She could still remember the pumpkins floating on top of the pond and the giant bleeding hearts flowers. But her most favorite was the praying mantis mower/helicopter. The Other Father took her on ride to catch a birds-eye view of the garden portrait of her. She could still see it fresh in her head. Now it was just a reminder of her selfish thoughts and desires.

But Coraline didn't dwell on the past. She was hopeful for the future. She had so much to look forward to. The weather was nice. The school year was about to come to an end. And she would have the whole summer to have fun and spend it with Wybie and her friends from Michigan. They were going to come spend the summer with her. Things were looking all right for her.

Coraline was about to stand up and leave when something in the tulips grabbed her attention. The tulips swayed, as though they were being moved. By what? There was no wind today that could blow them. It looked as though something was running through the tulips. Coraline followed it. She followed it around the circle for a while. She had to get a look at whatever was running in there.

She stood still for a minute...she saw something in the tulips. It looked small. Maybe a mouse. Instinctively, Coraline picked up a branch, ready to scare it. She leaned closer. She saw that it was not a rat, but...something else. It walked on two legs—and it looked like a...ragdoll. No! This couldn't be! Coraline would not go through this again! She pushed the tulips down, screaming and raising the branch up high. But when she screamed there was another scream. Coraline was confused, there was no one else outside but her...and the doll. When she looked down at the doll she saw that it was looking straight at her. It looked...scared. Of _her_.

"Please, don't!" it yelled at her, the doll had a male voice. "Don't...hurt me!" He talked. The doll _talked_. He...talked. She couldn't believe it. She was face to face with a small doll that talked and was scared of her. Coraline was feeling bad.

The doll clutched his staff that had a lightbulb on top. He really looked scared. Coraline reached out her hand, the doll looked at it. He looked like he was teetering on whether or not he should get on her hand. He looked at Coraline, she looked down at him with a caring smile.

"It's okay." she said. "I'm not going to hurt you." With that reassuring gesture, the doll, clutching his staff, gingerly stepped onto Coraline's hand. Coraline lifted her hand up, startling the doll. Now she took a good look at him. He had a zipper on the front of his body. He was made of burlap. She looked at his hands and feet, his hands looked like they were made of wood and copper. His feet looked like they were made of copper. She smiled after her inspection.

9 had a startled look on his face. He began to calm down after Coraline gently smiled at him. He knew that she wasn't a danger to him, and that he had no reason to be afraid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh just so you know, the only stitchpunks that appear in this crossover are 9, 7, 3, and 4. I would've loved to use 1, 2, 5, 6, and 8, but...I decided to just let them be. Heh. Well, enjoy chapter two.**

* * *

After dinner that night, Coraline took the doll out of her closet and just started talking.

The doll's name was 9, judging by the number on his back. Coraline sat on her bed while 9 was on her nightstand. Coraline told him her story of how she moved here a year ago and even told her about her adventure through the little door behind the wallpaper. 9 seemed intrigued by that story the most.

"...so now, here I am," said Coraline, finished with her story. 9 jumped onto her bed, his staff held high. "What about you?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." said 9.

"You believed my story." said Coraline, cheekily. 9 chuckled, he did believe her. Now it was time to see if she would really believe him.

"Well...I'm not from around here." 9 said.

"I got that part figured out." said Coraline.

9 looked at her again. "No, I mean, I'm not from around here." 9 started with how he woke up in a room that was once a house. Then he told her about meeting 2, another doll like him. 9 said that his kind were called "stitchpunks." Dolls brought to life by the human soul. Then he told her about the talisman, and how it accidentally killed 2 after putting it in the Machine. He showed it to her after remembering he hid it in his body.

"After that, we began hunting the Machine and its creations. The Winged Beast. The Seamstress. The Seekers. All of them. We killed the Machine. And then there were the deaths. 8 died. Then 5. Then 6. And then 1. Then 7, the twins, and I sent their souls to the sky, where they made it rain, and after that, they were gone."

"Gosh." Coraline said. "That must've been tough, having to see them go."

"Yeah, it was, " said 9. "But...it was the right choice."

"Where are 7 and the twins now?"

"That's just it. I don't know. They could be anywhere right now."

Coraline looked down at the hardwood floor, pensive. She had welcomed him to her home discreetly to keep her parents from finding him. He had suffered through such a life that wasn't meant to be. Coraline almost lost her family in that dangerous hide-and-seek game. She fully understood his situation, and now...there didn't seem to be any other options accept one.

"I'll help you." Coraline said, handing him back the talisman. "Tomorrow I can help look for your other friends."

"Thanks, Coraline," said 9. "That means a lot."

Coraline smiled.

* * *

The next morning on Saturday, Coraline took 9 outside to start the search for 7, 3, and 4.

"Where would your friends most likely be?" Coraline asked, like a detective. 9 didn't have an answer, so they just looked wherever they could. The two searched in the garden again where she found 9, hoping either 7 or the twins would be there. She looked amongst the tulips, carefully pushing them aside to see if they were hiding there.

"Um, sorry for not asking earlier, but...how did you even get here?" Coraline was feeling stupid for asking something she should've said before.

"Well...I don't know." 9 said, grabbing Coraline's hair as she stood up. "First, 7 and I were walking in the Emptiness when the twins came to us, insisting that we follow them somewhere. They said that we should see it, they're just kids, you know how it is. Anyways, we followed them to what must've been an antique store."

"What happened?" Coraline said.

"Well, the twins lead us to a large antique mirror. We didn't think anything of it, we just thought it was nice. Then, something happened. As soon as the sun set, there was this strange glow around the mirror. We didn't know what it was, all except that it was glowing. And then I decided to check it out. I walked up to the mirror, about to touch it when my hand went through it. I didn't even—I was blown away. But the trouble was I couldn't take my hand out from it. It was like the mirror was pulling me in.

"7 and the twins started pulling me out, but the mirror seemed to have a will of its own. It went on like this for a while and then the mirror pulled me and 7 and the twins inside. All I remembered was a bright, green light and this loud, searing noise. And then everything went dark."

That was that. That was his story. Coraline was more worried than enthralled. "Wow. I'm sorry. I didn't know—I'm sorry. So..where do you think twins are? And 7?"

"I don't know. When I woke up I was in the forest. I started searching for 7 and the twins, but I couldn't find them. I saw your house from a distance and I thought maybe they'd be here. So I came here ad I went into your garden. And then I found you."

That was the only thing 9 said and Coraline didn't ask him any more. There was silence for a while.

And that's when Coraline thought of something.

"Let's go for a walk." she said. She walked out of the garden and took the path to the forest.

"Where are we going?" 9 asked, climbing on to her head.

"You'll see."

The wind blew through Coraline's blue hair. 9 watched the passing trees as they went. Coraline was now walking up a path that was going up a hill. 9 held his staff tightly as to not drop it, it was the only possession that reminded him of his friend 5. Now he looked to his left, he could see Coraline's house from up here. He loved this scenic view.

"We're almost there." Coraline hollered. 9 looked up, the trees were full of ripe red cherries. He had never seen such things. He like how the wind swayed the branches onto each other. When Coraline stopped it seemed like the whole world stopped with her. Coraline plucked 9 from her head and held him high, so that he could catch a view of the clearing.

The trees were in a circle, as though arranged on purpose. Down on the ground there were brown mushrooms, 9 couldn't help but notice that they were in a circle on the ground. Around a wooden lid. A well. What did this all mean?

"This is where I dropped the key," said Coraline, "along with the hand." She stooped down and placed 9 on a nearby stump. He looked at the well again, trying to catch every detail in case he'd have to find it again.

"This is where I saw your house." the stitchpunk said, looking at the view. "I remember walking past here. I might've woken up somewhere else, I was in a hurry. I..."

Coraline looked around, as though sensing danger. She had a familiar feeling of being watched, but she knew very well that there was nothing to fear. She remained calm.

"What's that sound?" 9 inquired, turning around. He looked every which way, clutching his light staff, ready to fight whatever was going to come out of those woods.

A horn sounded from a distance, followed by a loud motor. Coraline saw a silhouette on a motorcycle in the distance, it came driving down the hill. The driver drove around the clearing in circles. 9 looked at Coraline, she looked strangely calm around this mysterious driver. He looked at the driver again. Then the driver stopped and 9 could get a clear look at him. He had a helmet with three optic shutters. Only Coraline recognized the skeleton gloves and the black skull helmet.

"Hey Wybie," said Coraline familiarly. 9 was still confused about this encounter. "You stalking me again?" It was only when the boy took off his helmet and 9 knew that this was a human. He calmed down.

"Yeah." said Wybie with a chuckle at the end. "I, uhhh—" His gaze turned to the stump where 9 was standing. He crept over, slightly nervous, but he seemed to be unsurprised by his presence. "You found one too?"

"Too?" Coraline uttered.

"You mean...?" 9 said, perking up.

"I found three of them the other day," said Wybie. "I'll show you." Wybie revved up his motorcycle; Coraline grabbed 9 from the stump and she climbed onto the motorcycle. They drove off.

"Whoa!" 9 yelled. He wasn't used to this speed, of course, he'd never been on a motorcycle before. But he was in Coraline's hand so it felt much safer.

They went up the hill, driving past the tall pine trees. 9 was enjoying this fast traveling, he'd never experienced it back home. Now he looked up ahead, they were going towards a house, a two-story house. Wybie stopped and turned off his motorcycle. 9 took a good look at this house. The house was old but in good condition. He saw a swing on the porch. The house was white but it was losing its color. It was nothing like Coraline's house, but it was something. All in all, it looked like a home.

Coraline climbed down from her seat and she hid 9 in her shirt. "We don't want to scare Wybie's grandma." she whispered to him. 9 understood and wisely stayed quiet.

Coraline and Wybie went inside.

"Grandma, I'm home," Wybie called. "And I brought Coraline."

"That's nice, Wyborne." said Wybie's grandmother. Coraline followed Wybie into the kitchen where Mrs. Lovat was standing over the stove, stirring a pot. She looked at Coraline. "Would you like to stay over for lunch? I'm preparing that batch of gumbo you like so much."

"Thanks, Mrs. Lovat." said Coraline, gratefully.

"We're going to go upstairs and study."said Wybie. "Tell us when the gumbo is ready." And then they left the kitchen. Coraline took 9 out of her shirt and she placed him on top of her her shoulder.

They climbed the stairs

"What's gumbo?" 9 asked.

"It's a kind of soup." Coraline replied. "It tastes sort of spicy. I tried it. It's good." She looked down at 9. "I wish you could eat. You'd probably like it."

"I bet I would."

Wybie looked over his shoulder, focusing on 9. "I found the twins two days ago. And the other one the day after." He chuckled. "You should see the twins, they're crazy fast. And the white one acts like their mother."

"That's 7 all right." 9 remarked. "And that's definitely like the twins." He smiled.

"Well," Wybie looked at Coraline, "you'll see for yourself." They were already standing in front of a brown, wooden door with a gold knob. He opened it carefully as though he was going to wake someone up. Stepping inside, 9 saw a telescope by the window, a bed beside the window to the left, a desk over to the right, a closet, a stack of books on another desk to the left. On the ceiling he saw a model of the solar system hanging by strings.

"They're right over here." Wybie led them to his closet where the door was opened and he rummaged through a clutter of things. He came back with three dolls in his hands.

"7!" 9 shouted.

"9?" 7's voice was soft but still audible. She had a look on her face that made her appear as though she were going to be saved. Coraline crouched down and 9 jumped down from her shoulder. Wybie did the same thing and 7 and the twins were all together in a group hug.

"9, I thought I'd never see you again." 7 said after breaking the hug. 9 smiled at her and he looked over at the twins.

"I'm happy to see you. All of you." 9 said.

Coraline chuckled. The twins look at her curiously. They scurried over to her and started climbing on her, observing her body, looking at her clothes. What surprised Coraline the most was that their eyes flickered, like flashlights.

"They're cataloguing," said 7, chuckling.

"They did it to me when we first met," said 9.

"And me," said Wybie.

Now 3 and 4 were on top of Coraline's head. They pulled on locks of her blue hair, gently to not cause any pain. Then 4 took the dragonfly hair clip from her hair and started cataloging. 3 slunk over and observed the hair clip, eyes flickering wildly. Coraline grabbed the twins and she held them before her face. Now she observed them carefully. They were light blue with blue and yellow stripes. They had blue hoods on their heads. Coraline took her hair clip back and clipped it in her hair.

She then looked over at 7. She was white with a green button-like fastening, and rope tied around her waist. She wore a bird skull for a helmet. She held a spear.

The six of them spent the time talking. They talked about the mirror and how they ended up in the forest. Wybie told Coraline how he found 7, 3, and 4 on a banana slug hunt. Told her that he took them home and started studying them.

9 showed Wybie the talisman. He started studying it, held up a magnifying glass and observed the symbols on it. He's never seen these symbols before, but he said he's so research on it. 3 and 4 showed him their recordings of the talisman, and all they could share. Wybie gave 9 the talisman back.

There was one thing they wanted to know.

"How will you guys get back home?" Coraline asked.

"I don't know." 9 said. "Getting here was easy but going back...I don't know if we'll ever get back."

"What do you remember before you got sucked in?" Wybie queried.

"Well, it was sunset." 7 explained. "And I remember seeing the moon out. I think it was a full moon. Anyways, when we went to see the mirror, I looked out the window and it was higher than before. And then 9 stuck his hand in the mirror and went in to pull him out. Then I saw the moon one last time before I got sucked into the mirror. That was all."

"What about you two?" Coraline asked the twins.

3 and 4 flickered their eyes at her in response, but neither Coraline nor Wybie understood what they were saying.

"They say that they remember seeing the moon as well," 7 said to Coraline. "They say that they remember seeing how the stars were aligned around the moon. 4 doesn't remember anything else, but he's sure it had something to do with the moon and the stars."

The full moon. Stars aligning the moon in a certain pattern. Coraline didn't know much about astrology but she knew enough to be at a rudimentary level. But...there needs to be more than that.

"Tomorrow we'll go to the library and see what we can find on this...moon portal." Coraline said. "I'll take 9 home with me and you'll keep 7 and the twins."

3 and 4 flickered at Coraline again, forgetting that she couldn't understand them.

"They're saying that they want to go with you this time." 7 said. "I hope that's okay—"

"No, don't worry, I'm okay with that." Coraline reassured. "They could use a break from being cooped up in a closet all day."

7 chuckled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's chapter three, everybody. Enjoy!**

* * *

That night after Coraline's parents went to bed, Coraline got out of bed and walked over to the window seat where 7, 3, 4, and 9 were standing on the ledge, staring out into the night. The sky was speckled with stars, all shining like small diamonds.

"Hey," said Coraline. The four stitchpunks turned around.

"Do you think we'll be able to get back home?" 9 said, worriedly. Coraline sat down on the window seat, thinking of an answer for him. She couldn't let them down after everything they've been through. She had to be strong.

"I'm sure you will."

9 had a sort of appeased look. Then he turned around, gazing back out the window. "The stars are much brighter here than back at the Emptiness." he said. "Sure will miss it when we go home. If we ever go home."

"You'll get back home," Coraline said. "Don't worry. It'll be okay."

"Thanks." 7 said. "You go on to bed, we'll keep an eye out."

Coraline went back to her bed, taking one last look at her stitchpunk friends before closing her eyes.

After a few seconds Coraline was finally asleep.

* * *

 _Coraline found herself in a dark void. Everything aro_ _und her was black. Completely black, yet she could see her body. Coraline didn't know where she was, or more specifically, where she was going. She had been walking this entire time and she still didn't know where she was headed._

 _She hoped it was something good._

 _Up ahead, there was a glowing, green light. Coraline's eyes widened as the light crept closer. It took the shape of a small figure. Almost humanlike. No, doll-like. The figure resemble a stitchpunk, like 9, 7, and the twins. This had to be another stitchpunk. Coraline saw a number through its transparent body. It was a backwards number six. 6! He was one of the stitchpunks that died._

 _"What...what is this place?" Coraline looked around the darkness. "Where am I?"_

 _"Beware, beware," said 6. "Beware the beldam. Beware the beasts."_

 _"The Other Mother?" Coraline said, exasperated, eyes widening. "She's back?"_

 _6 nodded, his mismatched eyes blinking. "She will come...when the moon...is a-at it's fullest. Beware."_

 _Moon? Full? A full moon! "She's coming back on a full moon?" she cried out desperately. Again, 6 nodded. Coraline was more worried than ever. A year ago she battled the beldam, and now she was coming back, and this time, she was probably getting help from the beasts. The beasts that hunted down the stitchpunks._

 _"How can I stop the Other Mother from coming into my world?" Coraline asked. "How?"_

 _"You must use...the talisman." 6 replied. "Use it...to take away her life. And then...use it to send them back home."_

 _Coraline's eyes protruded. "The talisman?" She looked down at invisible ground, exasperated. "But...what if she doesn't have a soul? How can it kill her if—" Coraline went silent afterwards. She was more apprehensive than the time she went into the Other World to save her parents. This was bad. This was really, really bad._

 _"What do I do until then?" Coraline asked despairingly. "Because...I can't let the Other Mother win. Tell me! Please!"_

 _6's glow began to fade, as though he were a dying flame. "Trust your friends, they'll help." He began to float away into the darkness. "They...th-th-they will help. Trust them. Beware the beasts. They will be watching."_

 _"Wait!" Coraline shouted. She began to follow 6 into the black as he floated further away. His green glow faded away and soon, his form was blowing away by a wind she could not see and seconds after he was gone._

 _"Wait!_ "

* * *

Coraline woke up gasping, grabbing the attention of the stitchpunks who were still on the window seat. They were panicked.

"What's wrong?" 7 inquired in motherly tone.

"I—" Coraline gasped. "I had a dream!" She started taking slow, calming breaths. "I had a dream where one of your friends...6...gave me a warning."

"6?" 9 said, dumfounded. "You saw 6?"

The twins were sharing matching surprised expressions.

"What did he say?" 7 asked.

"He said...that the Other Mother was coming." said Coraline. "Said that she was coming back—and I think she has help this time. From the beasts."

The beasts. That would mean the Other Mother got ahold of them through a portal. But how? The little door has long been permanently locked away, and the key had been thrown into the well.

"What else did he say?" 9 asked.

"6 said the Other Mother was coming when the full moon was out." Coraline cautiously gazed down at the floor. "If the Other Mother gets through the portal, then that means the beasts will too. And even the Machine." Coraline's gaze then focused on the talisman which was sitting on her nightstand. "He also said...that I can use the talisman against the Other Mother."

"The talisman?" 9 said, furrowing his brows. "We don't know if she even has a soul. How do we—"

"6 also said that we can use the talisman to 'send them back home'" Coraline added, facing the stitchpunks. The stitchpunks were completely confused by that statement.

"What did he mean by that?" 7 inquired.

"I don't know." The blue-haired girl glimpsed at the talisman. "But...I can't let the Other Mother win. I can't!"

"We won't let that happen." 7 said. "You have us, and we will stop the Machine and the Other Mother. They won't be crossing into your world without paying the price."

With that, Coraline felt better. She felt better knowing she has friends who would protect. And she knew she would protect them. All of a sudden she was feeling the fear lift away.

She wasn't going through this alone. And she didn't have to.

* * *

Coraline's mother drove Coraline and Wybie into town the next day around noon. She seemed curious about this favor of theirs, but she nonetheless took them to the libary.

"I needed to go into town, anyways," said Mel Jones, looking at Coraline and Wybie through the rearview mirror. "I'll go to the department store, and meet up with you guys at the pizza place. Sound like a deal?"

"Yes." Wybie and Coraline said in unison.

Mel peeked at them through the rearview mirror one last time before turning to the road.

Coraline opened her messanger bag, the stitchpunks were hidden in there, and would stay in thee thought the whole time she and Wybie did research.

They were already passing some buildings. The ice cream shop, the shoe store, the bakery. The library was around the corner to the right it; it was the biggest building in town. Mel pulled to let Coraline and Wybie disembark.

"Thirty minutes." Mel said as a reminder. "And then we'll meet up at the pizza place for lunch."

"Yeah, okay, mom," said Coraline over her shoulder. "Bye."

As soon as Mel drove away the kids got started on their research.

The library was bigger from the inside. Tall bookcases full of books stocked on every subject imaginable, ranging from geography to physics. The twins 3 and 4 peeked out from Coraline's bag, they were rapidly flickering their eyes, recording everything.

Since the portal the stitchpunks came through had something to do with magic, Coraline and Wybie headed for the occult section on the second floor. They looked through every shelf on the case. They paged every book for an answer, but there didn't seem to be anything worth doing.

Coraline was about to pick another book when Wybie came with a book in his hands. "Hey Jonesy, check this out." He led her to one of the available tables and they started their research.

"This book says that on every full moon when the stars are aligned a certain way...portals can be opened to other worlds." Wybie traced his finger to the passage that said that. Coraline read it along with him and was catching every detail.

She looked around stealthily, as though someone may be watching. She looked down at he bag, deciding whether to let the stitchpunks see the book. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, if they see the stitchpunks, they'll certainly freak out.

"So this portal opens up every full moon, and the Other Mother can just cross through them?" Coraline said as if trying to comprehend everything that was written in the book. Wybie had that scared look that meant he was right. The blue-haired girl didn't like the sound of that. "Great." She let out an exasperated breath and rested her chin on her hands.

The stitchpunks looked at her worriedly.

"Does that book have anything on how we can close the portal?" Coraline asked as though expecting more bad news.

Wybie fidgeted and started turning pages. Coraline peeked at him from the corner of her eye.

"Well I guess the portal closes when there's no full moon," he said. "I don't know what we're going to do until then. We can't sit around doing nothing."

"You're right," said Coraline, straightening up. She exhaled. "So...what are we gonna do?"

"I don't know." Wybie said.

That was it. There was nothing they could do. That seemed like it when Coraline suddenly remembered.

"You guys came through a mirror, right?" Coraline whispered to the stitchpunks.

"Yes," said 7.

"So...that means the Other Mother can get through a portal that's not the little door." It sounded reasonable. The door behind the wallpaper was locked and the key was in the well. It never occurred to Coraline that the beldam could enter her world through another portal.

"You mean like a mirror or a window?" Wybie offered. "That sort of thing?"

"I guess."

There was an awkward silence afterwards. The whole world seemed to stop before their eyes.

"What are we gonna do?" Wybie said.

Coraline looked down at her half-open bag, the stitchpunks gazed at her, worried. She took a long hard look at them, just imagining risking her life for them and vice versa. She had ventured through the little door to save her parents and ghost children. She risked it all. Even if it caused her her own life.

"We fight."


	4. Chapter 4

**Just as a heads up, Heather and Mike are the names I chose for Coraline's friends from Oregon. I figured they'd need manes so I don't spend the whole time calling them "her friends from Oregon."**

 **Thanks for the reviews. Now, onto the the story.**

* * *

The morning sun crept through the bedroom window and Coraline was rising with it. She had so much to prepare for.

Getting out of bed, she made her way towards her closer and got ready for school. The stitchpunks had spent the entire night watching over her, and keeping an eye out for any danger. They woke her once when they saw the black cat crawling towards her window. They were appalled. But Coraline calmed them down and said that he was a friend. The stitchpunks, especially 7, were surprised to learned that she was friends with a beast.

Of course, back where the stitchpunks came from, cats were enemies. Especially the machine beast kind.

Coraline was surprised the cat still hung around. She wondered how long he had been around. Probably longer than her. But at least he was able to save Coraline from an abysmal fate.

She was sure the cat was going to help in her next adventure.

Coraline got dressed in her school uniform and strolled on towards the window seat. The stitchpunks were waiting for her.

"Okay guys, I have to go to school," she said to them, stooping down. "If my mom, or my dad come in hide under the bed. In the mean time, just stay put and stay out of trouble."

"Don't worry," said 9. "We'll keep watch here."

"Great. See you guys in a few hours."

Coraline rose up, about to leave, when she looked at her calendar. It was late May. The last day of school was on Wednesday. Heather and Mike were going to come spend the summer two weeks after school was out. She had plenty of time to figure this all out. And she certainly did not want to put Heather and Mike in any trouble. If only she knew when her friends were going to fly in, so that she could get this over with in time for her plans.

* * *

When she got home Coraline got straight to working. She changed out of her uniform and into a simple lavender dress. She took out the alchemy book she checked out of the library and just started on reading. Coraline was glad she didn't have much homework. She worked on some of it at lunch and planned on finishing it after dinner.

She opened the alchemy book to the chapter on symbols. The book she checked out was huge. It was so thick it would take her a lifetime to finish it. She wasn't going to read the whole book from the beginning, she was going to start with the chapter on symbols and their meanings.

She peeked at the calendar again. The next full moon was going to be on the fourteenth. Her friends were going to come some time before or after that day. But she was still on edge. She didn't want to put Heather and Mike in harm's way.

A soft pitter patter sounded. Coraline turned around and saw the twins playing with a small rubber ball. She smiled at their playfulness. She turned back to her alchemy book. She leafed through the pages, she glanced at the talisman. She squints her eyes a bit as though the symbols were tiny. But she just needed to memorize them in order to find anything in the book.

She poured into the book for about seven minutes. She was about to give up when she found what she was looking for. She found the meanings of the symbols. The symbol on the left—the one that resembled a crescent—stood for transferring. When used in alchemy it can allow you to transfer life into another source. Life, in other words your soul. At least, that's what the book meant and what 9 explained. The other symbol, the one that looked like a cursive "I," stood for knowledge. And the last one, the one that resembled a tower, stood for preservation. The book said when these three symbols are used together they can bring about big things. Big things such as change. Transferring life into another life. And preserving what you have for something really important. Coraline wondered what that meant.

"3, be careful! Don't touch that!" 7's voice pulled Coraline from her train of thought. She turned around in her chair, looking straight at her nightstand. The twins were standing next to her picture frame. The picture frame of her friends from Michigan.

"Hey! Don't touch that!" Coraline got out of her chair and charged at them. She snatched the picture frame from her nightstand. 3 and 4 looked at her with spooked looks on their faces. Coraline felt like an immature child all over again. "Sorry," she said, "I just—this means a lot to me. And I don't any anyone wrecking it. That includes you two."

"We won't touch anything if you don't want us to." said 7.

Coraline glanced away, looking at the wall, anything but 7's camera shutter eyes, or the twins' concerned expressions. "That's okay. I just overreacted. That's all." She put on a brave smile, but she felt uncomfortable all the same.

3 and 4 watched as Coraline put her picture frame back on her nightstand. The picked the twins up and then she grabbed 7 and 9. She put them on shoulders: 3 and 4 on her left; 9 and 7 on her right. She then went for her bag—which was hanging on the back of her chair.

"Get in, you guys." She opened it and the four stitchpunks jumped inside, closing the bag once they were all in. She quickly peeked outside and saw the black cat wandering around. She grabbed the talisman and trotted out her room.

She jumped the last three steps downstairs and rushed out the door just as he dad came in.

"Whoa! Where's the fire?" he uttered, nearly bumping into the wall.

"Sorry, dad, gotta go!" Coraline said quickly before she tore through the yard. She found the black cat walking by the gate to the garden. She ran towards him before he could disappear.

"Hey," she said to the cat, nearly tripping. The black cat gawked at her with that look he always sported. Coraline opened her bag and the stitchpunks poked their heads out, staring at the cat. 3 and 4 cringed back when the cat neared.

"It's okay, guys, he's completely harmless." Coraline said.

The black cat leaned his head and started sniffing at the stitchpunks. 7 fought back the urge to stab the cat's eyes out. She calmed down when the cat finally stopped sniffing and walked away towards the garden. Coraline opened the gate and walked with the bag strapped to her shoulder.

"What are we doing here?" 9 asked.

"This is where I found you." Coraline replied. "I thought maybe we could start our plan here."

She sat down on the bench, letting the stitchpunks out since there was no one else around. "What are we going to do? The next full moon is in two weeks and there might be beasts out there."

"Don't say that." 7 said. "We won't let anything happen to you."

3 and 4 flickered their eyes in agreement.

"We have to two weeks to figure out a way to keep the Other Mother and the beasts from crossing over." Coraline said, looking down at the talisman. She rubbed her thumb on the symbols.

"What's wrong?" 9 asked, walking closer to her. She didn't seem to heard him, or perhaps she did, but she chose not to respond. Coraline continued tracing the symbols with her thumb until, out of impulse, she accidentally caused the talisman to work. The talisman opened up like a flower, startling herself as well as the stitchpunks.

"Sorry." Coraline sat up straighter. "Didn't know it could..."

"Here, let me see it." 9 reached out and took it from her hand. Looking back, he remembered his own stupidity when he placed it onto the Machine. He punched down one of the slots and then it just closed on itself.

"You should put it away." Coraline remarked. "Don't want it falling into the wrong hands."

9 tried to repress a chuckle as he hid the talisman inside his body.

"So what's the plan?" 7 inquired. The blue-haired girl brought her knees up to her chin. She had to think of a plan that would keep the beasts from crossing over. And that was just it. Keeping the beasts from crossing over was the objective. But what Coraline still couldn't figure out was how. How were they going to keep the beasts from crossing through the portal? Mentioning the squelching of the beasts was easy, the difficult part was figuring out _how_ to do that. Coraline wondered how dumb repeating the same thing over and over would be before they got bored of it.

"I don't know," was all Coraline could say. She really had no ideas. She thought this should be easy. The stitchpunks were counting on her. But she guessed she guessed she was just languishing to tell them that she was scared. She was scared that she would be putting Mike and Heather in danger when they come to spend the summer with her. If they came to Oregon than she expected she would be more careful than before. She would have to hide 9, 7, 3, and 4 from them to keep them from suspecting. If they found the stitchpunks, how would they react?

Would they even believe her?

"You'll think of something," said 9, putting his tiny hand on Coraline's big human hand. The hazel-eyed girl smile at him and at the others. 7 returned the smile; the twins nodded at her.

Coraline gazed over at the black cat, his blues eyes fixed on her, as though trying to read her mind.

"I wish you you could talk." she said to him. "You probably have a plan by now."

The cat walked towards her and rubbed against her legs. He then laid down and started rolling around on the ground. 3 and 4 leaned toward the edge and flickered their eyes in excitement. 7 and 9 chuckled.

"Well at least I won't be alone in this fight." said Coraline, gently tapping her foot on the cat's stomach.


	5. Chapter 5

**Just so you know, there's going to be Russian dialect in this chapter. I don't speak Russian, so I don't know if they're right or not. *shrugs* Well, enjoy chapter five. ^_^**

* * *

By the time Coraline got home the next day she started working on her plan some more. She got down all the details about the full moon and its power. The talisman and its symbols. She got that all down, but she needed something else in her search. She had a lot on her plate, but at least she wasn't doing this alone.

At least the last day of school was tomorrow, so she wouldn't have anything to worry about except the coming night of the beldam return.

Coraline took the stitchpunks down to the drawing room, where the little door was. In an stand, she remembered a year ago, when she found the door and discovered the wondrous Other World. Of course, that seemed like distant memory, but she remembered everything.

"I come here, like, all the time," said Coraline to the stitchpunks. "I keep watch when I have time to myself. I don't know why but...I always got the feeling that I would end back in that little room, like the three ghost children." She sat down in the armchair, the stitchpunks jumped from her shoulders and stood on the armrest. "I always thought that—if the Other Mother ever found a way out of the Other World...I would be ready." She glimpsed at her lap. "I guess I'm not."

3 and 4 flashed their eyes; Coraline still didn't understand what they were saying. She looked at 7 for translation.

"They say that you're not the same as before." 7 said, fiddling with her skull helmet. "They're saying that you are ready—for this next battle."

The blue-haired girl looked at the twins, their eyes looking straight at her, unblinking. She smiled and stroked their heads with her index finger. Coraline glanced the mantle, where her snowglobe collection was. Her mom's favorite—the one from the Detroit Zoo—had been thrown away long ago. It had been broken after her parents somehow escaped. She knew they had no memory of their time in the snowglobe, so Coraline never told them, and never will.

Coraline and the stitchpunks stayed in the drawing room for what seemed like forever. They heard footsteps; the stitchpunks hid behind Coraline. It was Mel jones who stood under the doorframe.

"Coraline, it's time to go upstairs for your Russian lessons." she said.

"Oh right, I forgot." She stood up, stretched,and walked out of the drawing room. "Thanks for reminding me. Her mother had no idea that the stitchpunks were hiding inside Coraline's shirt. "Be back later," she added before going out the door.

Once they were outside, Coraline took them out and held them in her hands.

"I have to go upstairs for my Russian lessons with Mr. Bobinsky." she told them. Coraline took the stairs that led to his apartment. She tried to keep herself from grimacing. "I was hoping Wybie would drop by and I would ask him to watch you guys." She stopped midway, looking at the scenery, observing how the trees touched the sky. "I don't know if you guys want to go and see him and his jumping mice—"

"No, no, it's okay, we don't mind," 7 assured. "It would be nice to meet some new humans."

The twins nodded their heads, smiling.

"Alright," replied Coraline. "But stay out of sight."

She continued up the steps, once she was at the door, she told the stitchpunks a last minute warning.

"When I open the door, you all rush in and explore as much as you want." More seriously she added. "And stay out of the mice's way. I don't want want Mr. B. losing his marbles any more than he already has."

She put the stitchpunks down on the floor. She opened the door...the four stitchpunks hurried in as ordered, and before Coraline could even walk, they were already out of sight.

"Privyet, Moozchina Bobinsky."

Mr. Bobinsky appeared from behind a makeshift rent composed of a table and a lamp with a sheet over it. Probably watching over the mice. "Dobriy deyn, Coraline," said Mr. B. "Ready to start our lesson?"

"Dah."

Coraline and Mr. Bobinsky commenced their lesson as usual. Every once in a while Coraline would take a quick peek at the stitchpunks whenever Mr. B. wasn't looking. He would turn his back sometimes and Coraline would signal them to stay closer or to not go too far. Luckily the chicken was in her cage, and the mice in their makeshift tent. The stitchpunks, while staying out of Mr. Bobinsky's way, would come closer to hear Coraline speak Russian. The twins, especially, intrigued. Even 9 was interested.

The whole lesson lasted forty-five minutes. Near the end, Coraline signaled the stitchpunks to head on toward the door and they went. Coraline politely said goodbye in Russian and strolled on over to the door. She quickly glimpsed back at Mr. B. and then opened the door (the stitchpunks sprinted out of there). Once they were out, that's when the conversation started.

"So what do you think?"

"I think he's strange," said 9.

"Agreed." 7 said.

"Well," Coraline started, "he may live in an apartment that smells like beets and cheese AND out of his mind, he's overall nice."

The twins' eyes flickered, Coraline looked at them as though trying to understand what they were saying (she had been trying to these past four days).

"They want to ask you why his skin is blue." 7 said.

"That's easy." Coraline replied. "It's because he spent most of his time in the cold. He's from Russia, you know."

"Where is Russia?" 9 asked.

"From here...about a thousand miles away on the other side of the planet."

Coraline stooped down, arm outstretched, the stitchpunks climbed their way up to her shoulder. On the way downstairs Coraline started telling them Mr. Bobinsky's story.

"He was an acrobat back in Russia. 'The Amazing Bobinksy.' That's they used to call him. He was really good at it, really amazing. Then, when he was thirty he immigrated to America to start his own mice circus. He always dreamed of owning a circus and being famous—and he was...for a while.

"His mice circus was popular for a few years. Then he started losing business around the time people just stopped coming. Then Mr. B. retired here eight years ago and he's been here ever since."

"Wow." 9 uttered.

Coraline was now headed for the garden. She walked up to the bridge, looking down at the tulips. Last year, during the garden party, she told Mr. B. to replant the tulips after catching him planting beets instead. She didn't want to, but she didn't want beets in her garden.

"So it's just him?" 7 queried. "No family? Just him and his mice?"

"He never married, or had kids." Coraline replied. "He loved his work more than anything. He told me that he if ever settled down and had a family...he would've...neglected them. That's why...that's he never..."

"Had a family," 7 finished for her.

Coraline nodded.

3 and 4 tugged Coraline's hair. "What's wrong, guys?" she asked them. The twins pointed down—to the ground.

"They want to go down." said 7.

"Okay." Coraline crouched down, the twins jumped off and they scurried down the bridge.

"3, you watch out for your brother, okay?" 7 hollered at them. "Don't let him fall down there." She pointed to the pit down below. 3 quickly nodded and ran off with her brother.

The blue-haired girl rose up and leaned on the rail. 7 and 9 hopped off her shoulder and stood on the rail.

"Any ideas?" said 9.

"I'm working on it." replied Coraline.

There was a brief, but seemingly infinite silence.

"It wasn't your fault, Coraline." 9 suddenly uttered.

She snapped her head around, eyes boring on him. "What?"

"The door," 9 repeated. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't know what was on the other side."

Coraline turned away, feeling ashamed.

"It's okay, dear," cooed 7, stroking Coraline's arm. There was a sniff, it seemed that Coraline was in tears, or trying to fight them. She really felt guilty for her past mistake.

"But...we learn from our mistakes," 9 continued. "I did, you did. We all pick ourselves up after we fall."

The two stitchpunks watched Coraline, waiting for her to calm down. A few minutes later Coraline turned around, tears glistened the corners of her eyes. She was sad, but at the same time she was a little sad. 7 smile again and stroked her arm.

9 turned around and saw the twins running back towards them. He didn't think anything at first until he saw their faces. They were frightened. By what?

"3, 4, what's wrong?" he called out to them. The twins pointed at something at the end of the bridge before hiding behind Coraline's legs. The thing that frightened the twins looked...like...an insect.

"What is it?" 7 asked.

Coraline squinted her eyes. It looked like a platinum praying mantis. That's when she realized it wasn't a real bug, but a mechanical insect. A mechanical praying mantis. It reminded her of the praying mantis mower back in the Other World. This one was bigger than an ordinary praying mantis. This beast was about the size of the black cat. It had eyes made of lightbulbs, pipe cleaners for antennae, metal legs, wings made of knives, and its forearms were made of fishhooks. The beast's eyes glowed an ominous red, staring right at Coraline and the stitchpunks.

"What is that?!" Coraline shouted, backing away just as she said that.

"I'll handle this!"

7 jumped off the rail and sprinted towards the praying mantis beast, her spear pointed at the beast. The praying mantis beast raised its forearms...7 stabbed the beast in the chest, sparks crackling. The beast let out a shriek, and dove for 7, forearms raised. 7 moved out of the way, slicing off one the beast's arms, electricity crackling, oil pouring out like a cascade.

Coraline, panicked, grabbed 9 and crouched down. "Take the twins somewhere safe."

"Right!" 9 retorted. He and the twins rushed to the end of the bridge, heading for the iron gates.

Coraline turned back and ran towards 7, but she was now being chased by the mantis beast, who was now flying. Coraline chased them, arms out in an attempt to swat the beast, or grab it. Quickly, she swatted it, sending it to ground. 7 jumped in and sliced off the mantis's other forearm, now completely defenseless. The mantis screeched, knife wings flapping, lightbulb eyes glowing.

"Coraline!" 7 shouted.

Panic-stricken, the blue-haired girl looked down at the mantis and just did what she thought of: she stepped on it. Coraline saw oil pool around under her foot.

"Ugh!" Coraline wiped the oil on the ground. She looked down at the dead mantis beast. She managed to squish its eyes and there were some sparks crackling.

9 and the twins came running, their gaze focusing in the stepped-on mantis beast. 3 and 4 sidled over to the beast and catalogued it. They flashed their eyes.

"Where did that come from?" 9 asked.

Although not directed to them, 3 and 4 answered by flickering their eyes. Coraline crouched down, trying understand them without 7 having to translate for her. But it seemed like no matter how hard she tried, Coraline would never understand them. She gave up.

"4 says that he saw a pair of eyes looking at him from behind the tulips." 7 said after seeing Coraline's frustrated face. "3 says that she walked closer to it when the beast suddenly lunged at them."

"Where exactly did you find it?" Coraline asked the twins. 3 and 4 pointed to the left. 9 and 7 and Coraline looked in the direction the twins pointed at. Coraline stood up, ambling towards tulips; 7, 9, and the twins following behind her.

They arrived at the spot where the twins said the beast came out of. Coraline pushed down the tulips, looking around for clues. She saw petals scattered around, she thought it was because of the wind, but something told her that the mantis beats had something to do with it. Just when she was about to leave, Coraline saw a hole. Not a dug-up hole. A hole a gopher would make, but it wasn't a gopher. It was too small. It had to be the mantis beast.

"What is it?" 7 inquired, stepping into the tulip field.

"I don't know." said Coraline. "But...I think I'm on to something." She looked over her shoulder. She immediately thought of the roof, but she would never allow herself to climb it and risk getting yelled at. So she though of another way. "We need to get to higher ground. I have to show you something."

She picked the stitchpunks up, holding them close to her chest. She walked up the steps, taking the short way to the forest. She didn't know if she was doing the right thing, or if she was just jumping to conclusions. But she needed to be sure. She took a right, heading for the path that lead to the creek. But Coraline wasn't going to the creek, she was going to the hill. She wasn't going to go all the way, just high enough to catch a scenic view of her house.

"Where are we going?" 9 asked.

"To the hill." Coralline replied. In her hands, 3 and 4 catalogued the passing trees and conversed with their eye-flickering.

"How far is it?" 7 queried.

"Not that far. But we're not going to walk all the way there."

"Why?" 9 said.

"Because I needed to be high enough to show you this." Coraline oustretched her arms, the stitchpunks balancing on her palms. They didn't see anything until Coraline told them to look at the spot where the garden was.

"Look closer." she said.

They did and they realized the horrible truth. The garden had the shape of a face.

"It looks just like her." Coraline's voice broke out. "The Other Mother."

She was right, the garden did take the shape of the Other Mother. How could they not have noticed this?

"Everyday, I try to forget that my garden looks like her." Coraline continued. "I try to pretend that it's something else. Just about two days ago, I started thinking that the garden might be a possible portal for the beldam. I just wanted to believe that it might not be."

9 looked back at Coraline and at the garden and back. The praying mantis beast crawled out of the garden. This fight was a sign that the battle was about to begin. And by the looks of it, there was no turning back.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry about posting this so late, but one thing led to another and I lost my internet and...Anyways, I had a lot of time to wrote the rest of the chapters which I'll post soon.**

* * *

Coraline was on edge the next day. She finally had time for herself now that school was over. She also had time to think of a way to keep the Other Mother from crossing over to her world. Yesterday's fight with that praying mantis beats was still replaying in her head.

"Do you need to talk?" 7 asked. She could see something was bothering Coraline by the way she glimpsed at the calendar and the picture frame and back again. Coraline wasn't blaming her for noticing, she was right.

"I'm just scared."

"Scared?" 7 uttered.

"About what?" 9 said.

Coraline shut her eyes. "About this." She held her breath until she was ready to talk. "I just...I should know what to do next, right?"

"No one knows what's going to happen, Coraline." 7 said.

3 and 4 crept up to Coraline, their eyes flashing. She just blankly stared at them until 7 spoke.

"They're saying that 6 knew what would happen next."

"Speaking of 6." 9 walked up to Coraline. "When you had that dream...what did 6 mean when he said you could use the talisman to...'send them back home'?"

Coraline glimpsed at the talisman which was on her nightstand. After that dream she wondered what 6 meant. After these passing days, she finally came up with an answer she didn't want to accept.

"I guess he meant...I could use it to send you back home."

"Us?" 9 uttered.

"How?" 7 said.

The blue-haired girl glimpsed at the talisman again before looking at the stitchpunks again. She felt 3 and 4 climb on her arm, walking towards her shoulder. She forgotten she was laying on her stomach. She felt one of the twins press their hand on her cheek. She peeked and saw it was 3. She smiled at Coraline. In a strange way, Coraline understood what she was saying, with her actions, not words. She was probably telling her that it was going to be okay if she chose to send them home.

"The talisman has a lot of powers." 9 quoth. "It has powers that we don't understand. It's so mysterious, and we don't know what else it can do aside from sucking out souls." He felt a chill when he said that last part.

Coraline furrowed her brow. She remembered the alchemy book she checked out from the library. She only skimmed it to figure out the meanings of the symbols. But there was still some things she still needed to figure out. She sat up, grabbed the stitchpunks, and made her way towards her desk and opened the alchemy book.

3 jumped off her shoulder and tugged on 4's arm. They seemed to be having a conversation of some sort, though, it was hard to tell, since Coraline didn't understand them. Not entirely.

"What is it?" 9 asked.

At first Coraline didn't say anything. A moment later she said, "How were the stars arranged in the sky?"

There was a brief silence amongst them. 3 and 4 looked at one another before facing 9 and 7. They flickered their eyes in response.

"They're saying that the stars were arranged in a triangle." 7 said. She looked at the twins again and got a brief correction. "Ah. Three stars. They were in a triangle."

Coraline pondered their answers. She got up and went to get the talisman. She returned and sat back down, looking at the talisman. She turned to the page that had the talisman's symbols on it. She looked at the book and back at the talisman. She thought about the stars the stitchpunks saw, and how they were in a triangle. She saw how the talisman's symbols looked like a triangle as well.

There had to be a connection.

Coraline felt a poke on her arm. The twins were pointing to a drawing they made on a blank sheet of lined paper. There they had drawn three stars exactly how they described them: in a triangle. If the stars and the moon opened up a portal to another realm, then the talisman had some part to play in it.

And what about the mirror? The mirror was used as the portal the other realm. Then...what's not to say that any mirror in the house could somehow become a portal? But did it have to be a mirror exactly? What about a window or a...pond? The well! She and Wybie dropped the key and the Other Mother's hand into the well. What if the beldam found it again and used it to open the little door again?

"Coraline?" 7's voice broke out. Coraline blinked her eyes, as if she were in a trance. She looked at the stitchpunks, their eyes locked on her in worriment.

"I have to see Miss Spink and Miss Forcible." she said, standing up. She outstretched her arms and the stitchpunks got on her hands. Together they left her bedroom and out into the hall.

Coraline's parents weren't home. Mel Jones was at the grocery store and Charlie was at the office, writhing the new how-to book on gardening. She knew they wouldn't be worried of they didn't see her. They were used to her visiting the neighbors. And today she was going to visit Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. Two retired actress who lived downstairs.

"Okay, guys," said Coraline as she opened the door. "Miss Spink and Miss Forcible have dogs in their house. I just wanted to warn you in case you guys wanted to wait outside while I ask them something."

"No, no, don't worry," 7 said. "We'll be okay if we stay out of sight."

Walking down the steps, Coraline added, "They also have dead dogs. They had them stuffed."

"Stuffed?" 9 said.

"I mean, they had them taken in got, their organs taken out." Coraline replied. "I don't know how taxidermy works—and I don't want to find out." She stood before the stairs that led to the actress' apartment. "Well...here we are."

She trepidatiously walked down the stairs, automatically remembering the flashing lightbulbs that decorated the door in the Other World. Coraline stopped, knocked on the door handle.

"Okay," Coraline said. She hid the four stitchpunks in her shirt before Miss Spink or the dogs came to the door. As soon as the stitchpunks safely tucked away then the dogs came barking at the door. Coraline, startled, saw they snouts, barking. Then she saw Miss Spink coming up to the door.

The door swung open and the dogs all came at her, barking and jumping.

"Oh come now, it's just Coraline!" Miss Spink shouted at the dogs. The dogs stopped barking and they ran back inside. To Coraline, she said, "Come in, come in. Don't mind them. Oh they're such a fuss!"

Coraline nervously walked inside. She remembered the grandiose theater hall in the Other World. She remembered the seats full of Scottish terriers. She remembered it all.

Sitting down, she saw Miss Forcible standing over the stove, preparing tea. Coraline remembered their counterparts in the other world: svelte, young, and breathtakingly beautiful. She also remembered when their counterparts turned into green and pink taffy monsters. Coraline remembered how their skin felt. Soft, squishy, like real taffy.

Coraline looked up at the shelves to her left. The taxidermy dogs aligned the shelves, all of them dressed in angel costumes. The dogs in the Other World, she remembered, turned into bat-dogs hybrids. She remembered their eyes glowed red.

"What brings you to our humble adore?" Miss Spink asked. "Tea leaf reading? Reenactment of one of our theatrical shows?"

Coraline saw Miss Forcible come in with a tray of tea. The dogs were next to her legs, sniffing. She hoped they didn't pick up on the stitchpunks.

"No." Coraline told her. "I was wondering what you know about...mirrors?"

"Mirrors?" said Miss Forcible, setting the tray on the table. "Like how they capture every feature?" Miss Forcible posed, as in a photo shoot.

"No." Coraline answered, tugging her neckline; she felt one of the stitchpunks pull her training bra. "Like...like in...supernatural stuff."

"Ah, well, you're in luck." Miss Spink crept up closer with her walker. "It just so happens that we do know of such thing." She sat down on the armchair to Coraline's left; the dogs's eyes following her. "You see, Coraline," she said once she sat on the armchair, "mirrors have been thought of as a gateway to the unknown. It was said that ghosts would cross over to our world through the use of mirrors."

"Really?" said Coraline, reaching for one of the teacups. She sipped intermittently while still gazing at Miss Spink.

"Yes, child," Miss Forcible cut in. "For thousands of years, people held the notion that mirrors could invite the dead to the land of the living."

"Witches used mirrors for scrying. To open portals to other dimensions." Miss Spink interjected, her competitive nature kicking in.

"What about something that's—" Coraline squeezed her shirt neckline, the stitchpunks were becoming too squirmy. "— _not dead_?"

"Ooh well, there are times when a mirror opens a portal into an alternate dimension." said Miss Spink. "Just for a while. And then it closes when the phase changes."

"Phase?" Coraline uttered.

"The moon, deary." Miss Spink's tone became much more serious. "Strange things happen when the moon is out. Especially if it's a full moon. So many strange things. Werewolves come out during the full moon. They say, that if a full moon comes out on Halloween, the veil that separates the dead and the living thins, and lets in all sort of otherworldly creatures."

Supernatural. Full moon. Portals to another world. It all made sense. So many things happened. But what about stars. What stories did they hold?

"What about stars?" Coraline asked, after sipping her tea.

"Stars." Miss Forcible said. "Such beautiful sights to see. Fortune tellers read the stars to predict the future. To tell fortunes."

"And what about when the stars are...aligned...in a certain pattern?" Coraline sounded nervous when asking that.

"Well they can make a portal for something to come in." Miss Spink retorted. "Well, especially, if they're arranged in a certain pattern, like a shape."

"Like a _triangle_?" Coraline offered.

"Exactly."

Shapes. Patterns. This was all she knew and Coraline felt like she was hearing the same thing over and over.

"What if—" Coraline set the teacup down on the table. "—there are three stars? And they're arranged in a triangle."

"Rare." Miss Forcible uttered. "Very rare." She looked over at Miss Spink who shared the same wide-eyed expression she held. "That only happens every two hundred years."

Coraline's eyes protruded. "Two hundred years?"

Miss Spink nodded. Coraline looked down, Hamish was nearing, he had that look on his face. He leaped up to her and barked. Coraline fell back, Hamish jumped on top of her, barking at her—no—at her chest. He caught the stitchpunks' scent!

"Get down, boy!" Miss Spink shrieked. "What has gotten into you? It's just Coraline."

"Maybe I should go." The blue-haired girl immediately sat up, Hamish jumped off, still barking. The other two dogs barked, getting arouse when Hamish was jumping to Coraline. Coraline immediately broke for the door. "Thanks for the info. I'll...come back...some other time."

"Tootaloo." said Miss Spink, waving her hand.

As soon as Coraline was outside she immediately raced up the stairs, practically falling while sprinting towards the garden. She sat down on the bench, there she fished the stitchpunks out of her shirt.

"That was a close one." said Coraline breathlessly. The four stitchpunks were also out of breath. "Those dogs almost sniffed you out." 9 nodded, remembering the dogs' sniffs.

7, after catching her breath, walked up to Coraline, gripping her spear. "Two hundred years?" She sounded incredulous. 3 and 4 flickered their eyes to each other.

"Does that mean we have to wait two hundred years for the next star to align?" 9 then asked. He genuinely looked concerned. Coraline understood his worry, but she also didn't know if that was the answer Miss Forcible gave her. After all, she did leave after the dogs got too close. She really regretted that.

"No." replied Coraline. "No. I don't...know."

7 furrowed her stitched brows. 4 looked at his sister who, after a moment, shrugged.

"Tomorrow we'll figure something out." Coraline said. "I...I promise."

That's what they hoped for.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm still working on a few things. I'm still trying to get out of my funk and slowly get back on track.**

* * *

Wybie and Coraline met up at the orchard the following day. The stitchpunks were on Coraline's shoulders, gripping her hair as to not fall off.

"...and they said it happens every two hundred years." Coraline said, wrapping up her story. Wybie was taking in every word she said. Everything pertaining to the stars, the moon...and the portal.

"She said all sorts of stuff about the stars." Coraline spoke. "Like reading them to tell the future."

"Like...fortune telling?" Wybie uttered.

"Exactly."

3 and 4 tugged on Coraline's hair to get her attention. "What is it?" she asked them. She plucked 4 from her shoulder. She tried to understand his flickers. It looked like he was trying to tell her about someone.

"He's saying that 6 could tell the future." 9 said. This was a surprise to Coraline. She never heard him translate the twins' flickers to her.

"He could tell the future with his drawings." 7 interjected. "

He drew pictures of the beasts. But mostly...the talisman."

"He often called it 'the source.'" 9 added.

Wybie looked like he wanted to ask him why, but he stayed quiet.

Coraline looked over to the well, she remembered the first time she saw it. She walked on over to it. Wybie followed and knelt down, which Coraline also did. The stitchpunks jumped off Coraline's shoulders and just looked at the well. 3 and 4 catalogued it, 4 put his hand through the small knothole. 3 immediately pulled his arm back in fear that he would get stuck.

"Wybie told me that if you fell to the bottom and looked up, you could see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day." Coraline said.

3 and 4 lifted their heads. They flashed their eyes. They then looked up at the sky, wondering what it would be like to see such a sight from the bottom of a well.

"Yeah, I don't remember where I heard it." Wybie said, nervously, scratching the back if his neck. "I just—I just always wondered what that might look like."

"It might look magnificent." 9 said, glancing up at the sky. The sky was an untroubled shade of light blue. White clouds covered the sun, making it all look so beautiful. He like how the sun shined through the clouds.

The group heard some rustling. They looked at the tall grass. They waited. A few minutes later they saw the black cat emerge and walk towards them.

"Hey there," said Coraline, "haven't seen you in a while." She extended her hand and the cat rubbed his head against it and throughout her whole arm.

The twins got on their feet and ran up to the cat. The cat turned around and leaned his head forward, sniffing them. 3 and 4 flickered their eyes, cataloguing him.

"3, 4, what are you doing?" 7 questioned more firmly.

"So what do you think?" Coraline asked. "Do we have to wait hundreds of years for those stars to align into a triangle or what?"

Wybie rubbed his chin, indicating his thought process. Coraline waited for him to think up a proper response. She glimpsed at 3 and 4, they were running their hands along the cat's whiskers. She heard him purring.

"I'll chart the stars tonight and update you on what I can find." Wybie replied after a while. Coraline accepted his answer, but she still looked like she was unsure.

3 and 4 waved their hands at Wybie to get his attention. Wybie smiled at them and waved back. He patted the cat's head before getting up and heading to his motorcycle.

"I'd better go before Grandma shouts out my name." he said as he mounted his bike. He revved up, put on his skull-painted mask, and drove off. Coraline watched and the stitchpunks stood by her, waiting for him to disappear into the forest.

"So what do we do now?" 7 uttered, looking up at Coraline.

Coraline was unsure the past few days. She was always afraid she would get the wrong answer.

"We wait."

* * *

 _The first thing Coraline saw was darkness. She was wandering in the same darkness as before, but it felt...darker. It felt alien. Like she was in another world. Where was she this time? She felt like she was in the same place, but something told her that she wasn't. She felt like she was being watched. Not a good presence, but a bad one._

 _Coraline faced forward, as though something was going to happen. A green light glowed. It looked like an ember. Fire. Green fire. Then more green flames ignited. She saw a fireplace coalesce. She froze in place, she recognized that fireplace. That could only mean—_

 _A silhouette formed. It was tall and humanlike. But the rest of its body looked insect-like. Coraline could make out thin, spider-like legs and a thorax. She looked at the head. She could see it looked humanlike. She recognized that face and shape._

 _The Other Mother._

 _Coraline gasped. It was her! She couldn't believe it. She was back with her! Her face was how she remembered it: death-white and covered in black veins. Only, she had her black button eyes. She remembered she threw the cat at her and he scratched her eyes out. Coraline looked at her hands, she had the right one back! Where did she—?How did she—?_

 _Another form slunk over. It was a beetle. The same beetle she remembered that blocked the little door when she tried to escape. Where was the door now? All she saw was the fireplace. So where was the door if the fireplace was here?_

 _"You," the Other Mother uttered in a growly voice. She pointed an accusing finger at Coraline. "ruined everything."_

 _Coraline backed away. The beetle crept closer. Over on the Other Mother's left she saw the praying mantis stagger to her side. The same praying mantis that was the mower and helicopter. The same one that attacked her. She glimpsed at the the floor, little spiders scurried around. They didn't look like real spiders, they looked like...robots. They were beasts. The Seekers! The beasts that 9 told her about!_

 _"Get away from me!" Coraline screamed. She made a run for it, her legs feeling like they were weighted down by iron shackles. The doorway was dark and velvety black. She saw two red eyes glow in the black. What beast was this? She squinted her eyes and she saw a wings coalesce. Wings...like butterfly wings. And antennae on its head. They looked like wires. Television antennae._

 _Coraline reached out with her hand and grabbed the butterfly beast. She saw that its body was made from a bullet. One of those big bullets that soldiers used. The blue-haired girl threw the beast at the wall where it broke into pieces. Electricity crackled around it's shattered body. She looked down at the floor, the Seekers were crawling towards her feet. She made a run for it._

 _Down the hall she saw a form slink up to her. It looked like it slithered. She saw a red light. And a face. Like a...like a child's face. No, a doll's face. A porcelain doll. It was only half of the doll's face. And one of the eyes glowed red. It was the Seamstress. She had her needles out and her threads. Coraline gazed into her eyes. She saw a white light flash, like a camera flash. She knew what the Seamstress was about to do. Remembering what 9 told her, Coraline shielded her eyes with her arms._

 _"You ruined my plans," the Other Mother's voice resonated in the dark. "I had you and you ruined it all. But now...you won't be escaping me."_

 _She felt tingles on her legs. Coraline looked down, careful not to glanced at the Seamstress. She saw the Seekers crawling up her legs._

 _"No!" she shouted. "Get off." She kicked her legs to get them off. Some of them crawled up her waist, she plucked them and threw them to the ground. She stomped on the remaining Seekers that were still crawling around._

 _When she glanced up the room was completely different. The walls were black. The floor had a spiderweb drawn on it. But that was it, it didn't look like it was drawn, it looked real. Really real. Coraline stood in the middle of the spiderweb. She tried to run, but her feet were stuck in the web. When she looked up at the ceiling she saw the Other Mother hanging from a thin spider thread. She looked like an actual spider._

 _She descended._

 _Above her, Coraline saw a great red eye. She knew that eye. It was the Fabrication Machine. It looked like 9 described. The metal arms shot out of its body. She saw something in its socket. The talisman. How did it get the talisman?_

 _She tried to hey away but she tripped and fell on the sticky web. Looking up, she saw the Other Mother just mere inches from her. She saw her smile. Her teeth. Her mangled, yellow teeth. Glancing back at the Machine she saw the talisman glow. She knew what was going to happen next. The talisman opened it, a spire of green light cam at her all she did was scream._

* * *

Coraline sat bolt up with a frightened gasp. Her heart thumped so fast she was afraid it was going to burst out of her chest. She clasped her hand against her chest. She was afraid it would stop beating if she took her hand off it. Once she felt her heartbeat return to normal, she looked at her nightstand. The talisman.

"What's wrong, Coraline?" 9 asked from the window seat. She looked at him, appalled. 7 and the twins were standing right next to him. They were all worried about Coraline.

"I," she said, taking a breath, "I...had a nightmare." She looked down, the moonlight casted the stitchpunks' shadows against the hardwood floor. She was afraid a Seeker would be crawling around.

"What happened?" 7 asked.

"I...I saw the Other Mother." Coraline answered.

3 and 4 flickered their eyes once, aghast.

"I saw her," Coraline continued. "I saw her, and her bug servants. And the beasts. The Seekers. And the Seamstress. A butterfly beast." She took a deep breath for the next part she was going to utter. "And the Fabrication Machine."

9 and 7 looked at each other; the twins flickered their eyes. They faced 9 for a response.

"In your other dream you said 6 told you the beldam was getting help from the beasts." 9 said. "What if she's creating beasts to attack you in your dreams?"

It was possible. Coraline dreamt about the mice when she first found the little door. She dreamt about the ghost children warning her about the Other Mother after she rescued them. Was this the Other Mother's way of getting to her? Or was this a warning? Coraline didn't know anymore. She just wanted a straight answer.

"What are we gonna do?" Coraline asked. "Even I don't know what's right anymore."

"We'll figure something out." 7 replied. "Right now, we have to wait for Wybie to chart the stars. Hopefully, we'll have an answer."

Coraline hoped 7 was right. She hoped Wybie was right. She just wanted it to end.

* * *

The following day, midmorning, Wybie met Coraline in her garden with news.

"What Miss Spink and Miss Forcible said was right," Wybie searched his bag for his notebook. "I was doing some research last night and it is possible for a portal to open up on the next full moon." He opened his notebook to the next available page. "I read up on astronomy and it does add to what we're looking for. The stars do form like that every two hundred years, and it happens every time there's a full moon."

"So you're saying it's possible?" 9 inquired, hopeful. 3 and 4 crept up to Wybie with wide, curious eyes.

"Well," Wybie said, nervousness in his voice. Coraline didn't like the sound of that. "Yes, it's possible." he said, straightforward.

"So we'll be able to get back home," said 9 optimistically.

"Yes, but, the Other Mother getting through?" 7 quoth. "How do we get back without _her_ getting us?"

Another drawback. That, Coraline didn't like. She hated having to think about how to stop the Other Mother. She didn't have special powers like her. She didn't know how fight, she could barely do a sucker punch. She didn't tell the future or read the stars. She could only rely on others to fight for her. But she remembered her mission back in the Other World. She had the seeing stone Miss Spink gave her. She left it back in the Other World. Now she wished she had it, it could be useful in her next battle.

The cat! The cat could help. After all, he did say cats have far better senses than humans. That meant he could see spirits. He could warn her if he saw something suspicious.

So far, things were looking alright for Coraline. And here she thought everything was falling apart. But she remembered she wasn't alone in this fight.

"How long does a full moon usually last?" Coraline asked.

"Well," Wybie began, "it usually lasts from night till sunrise. It technically lasts a few minutes, but there are other times when the full moon lasts for three days—since the moon and the Earth are always moving, it's hard to pinpoint when exactly the moon is going to reach its peak. However, when the moon is on the Earth's shadow—"

"Okay, we get it." Coraline interjected. Wybie sheepishly scratched the back of his head, remembering he was in his "intelligent mode" again.

"So, we have two weeks to figure out how we're going to go back home and stop the Other Mother." said 9. "How do we do that?"

There was a quiet moment for a while.

"The talisman," Wybie spoke up. Coraline furrowed her brow.

"The talisman?" 7 said.

"Yeah," Wybie said. "We can use it to...to build a trap or something. And then we use it against her."

"That's what 6 told me in my dream." Coraline said. "He said I could use it against her. But...what if she doesn't _have_ a soul? What then?"

"We'll just have improvise." said Wybie. Coraline could see that he was running out of ideas, but still trying. What other way was there?

"We'll work this out," 9 said to Coraline. 3 and 4 nodded their heads.

6 told Coraline to trust her friends in her dream. That's exactly what she was trying to do, but she always felt herself pulling away. After all this time, she still trusted Wybie and her neighbors.

Maybe it was time she finally did.


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, here's chapter eight. Sorry for sounding sarcastic, I'm just going through stuff. I hope I get over it by the ninth chapter.**

* * *

"Tell me what the others were like," said Coraline.

"Huh?" 9 uttered.

Coraline and the stitchpunks were sprawled out on her bed. She was wondering what the other stitchpunks were like before the Fabrication Machine took them.

"Like what?" 7 asked.

"Like...what they were like," replied Coraline. "What they liked, what they did not like. That sort of stuff."

The four stitchpunks looked uncertain. 7 appeared displeased, like, maybe talking about her fallen friends didn't seem like a good idea.

"We can talk about something else if you'd like." Coraline uttered.

"No, no," said 7. "We can..talk about them." She glanced at the floral print on the bedspread. "I remember when I met 2. I was close to him."

"Was he nice?" Coraline asked.

"Yes," said 7. "He was like a father to me, and to the rest of us. Except for one." This time she looked over at 9, remembering that he did not know 2 as well as she did. She faced Coraline again, but she had a hard time collecting her words to continue again.

"You hated him, didn't you?" said Coraline. 7 was taken aback. Was she talking about 2 or...? "1. You hated him, right?" She wasn't wrong, she did hate him. And she wasn't denying it either.

"It's just—I was fed up with him and his cowardice." 7 retorted. "That's why I left and took 3 and 4 with me. To keep them from following 1's ideals."

Coraline looked over at 9. "What about you?"

3 and 4 looked over at him, their eyes flickering.

"Well, I thought the same things she did." 9 motioned to 7. "He and I always came to disagreements. We basically argued the whole time we knew each other. But then...just as I was about to die to save them, 1 pushed me out of the way and he got his soul sucked out and into the Machine."

"God." Coraline uttered. She glimpsed at the floor, trying not to sound sad, or show the slightest air of pity. But she succumbed and just let it show. "I'm sorry about your friends, 9. I wish they were alive."

"Me too." 9 replied.

3 and 4 flickered their eyes again. Coraline looked at them with that look on her face. The one that indicated she was trying to understand them.

"They're saying they liked 2 when he was alive." said 9. "They say that they would stand by his side and watch him invent things. They say they watched him and 5 build a telescope." He looked over at his light staff, crestfallen. "And then 5 and I built this." He held it before Coraline's face. She looked at it more closely now. It was a simple staff consisting of a metal pole and a lightbulb. 9 only used it when needed, like at night.

"It's the only thing I have to remember him," 9 continued. "5 was like a brother to me. He told me he lost his left eye in the war. He wore a patch over it." He looked down at the floor below the bed. "I couldn't forgive myself for accidentally killing 2, I—I—" he sighed, closing his eyes.

3 and 4 crept up to 9, both expressing sad looks. 3 cupped 9's face who opened his eyes and looked straight into her eyes. She smiled gently. 4 touched 9's shoulder, flickering his eyes. ' _It's okay, 9. It wasn't your fault. That's...all behind us._ ' It was surprising that 9 understood the twins after all the time he's spent with them. But he knew they were right...as always.

Coraline looked down at the twins, wondering what they were saying. She tried to understand what they might be saying by taking it one step at a time. She always thought if using flashlight to try and communicate with them, but she always forgot. Coraline also thought about morse code.

"They're telling him that it wasn't his fault he let 2 die." 7 said to Coraline after seeing her confused face.

"I just can't stop thinking about it." 9 said.

"You can't still be grieving them," said Coraline.

"I can't help it."

"When I think about my dead grandparents, I think about the fun times I had with them." Coraline explained. "So why don't you remember what you liked about 2 and 5 and the rest?"

9 thought about for a moment. "Well, 2 was the first stitchpunk I met when I woke up. I couldn't speak at the time, so he gave me a voice box." He paused. "I'm sorry, I'm starting to bring up all those grieving moments again. Could we...could we maybe change the subject?"

"Alright." said Coraline. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Anything." replied 9, bringing his knees up to his chin.

3 and 4 looked up at 7, flickering their eyes.

"What's that?" said 7. "You want to...go outside?"

The twins nodded.

"We can go outside." Coraline said, sitting up. She held out her hand for them. 9 was the only one who didn't climb up her arm. Worry consumed her as she looked at him. She felt bad when he felt bad for his past actions. It made her feel anguished. "Come one." She gingerly picked him up and carried him away in her palms.

Once they were outside, Coraline sat down on the bench and the stitchpunks jumped off her shoulder. Only 9 stayed in her palms. He didn't feel like exploring. 3 flashed a message to 4, he then looked at 7 and she nodded at him. 3 and 4 climbed onto Coraline's arms and they sat by 9's side.

"I remember I was curious about 6." 9 suddenly said. Coraline looked down at him, ear perking. "I remember when I first met him that he knew something that the others didn't. The talisman." He pulled out his zipper and took out the talisman. "He always drew it, over and over, nonstop. He called it the source, because we were all a part of the Scientist. He was the source." He looked down at the talisman, running his fingers against the patterns. "We are all him, and he gave us his soul. Except to one." He thought back to the message the Scientist left him and how the Fabrication Machine was not given a soul.

"One?" Coraline said.

"The Machine." said 9, facing her. "He didn't give it a soul, so it never learned to handle stress or anything. The Machine just snapped under pressure and it started the war." He sighed, trying to imagine what it was like when he was dormant in the First Room.

"Gosh." Coraline looked away, pensive. The twins looked at her, curious. "I...I had no idea. I thought...I thought the Machine started the war in an act of jealousy."

"Jealousy?" 7 uttered.

"Yeah." Coraline thought before continuing. "Like...he might've been jealous of the Scientist paying more attention to the stitchpunks rather than him." She sounded stupid for thinking and saying things like that. She probably thought the stitchpunks thought the same.

"You could be right." said 7. "I mean. We don't really know the whole story. The Scientist only said what we needed to say. Who knows what really started it."

 _I wasn't there, so I don't know what to think_. Coraline thought.

"What about the Other Mother?" 9 said.

"What about her?" Coraline retorted. She was getting a suspicious feeling.

"Well," 9 said. "she created the doll to spy on you, right?"

"Yeah," Coraline replied. "She just made it out of cloth and stuff. I don't think she had a soul." She suspected 9 was considering that possibility. "And so were the mice and the Other Father and the Other Wybie—"

She noticed the stitchpunks' expressions and couldn't deny that nagging feeling of guilt and pity. She remembered the Other Wybie. Though nice and kind, he was still a creation of the Other Mother, but still felt sorry for him. This was one of the major things that affected her friendship with Wybie.

"If she has a soul, then does that mean she was human once?" 7 queried. She did spark up an interesting point. Was the beldam really human once? If she was, why did she reside in the perpetual void that was the Other World? As punishment? Did she commit some kind of crime that resulted in being locked behind that door?

There so many questions and very few answers. Coraline wondered if she'll ever find it.

"Coraline?" 7's voice cut through Coraline's train of thought. The blue-haired girl looked down at the white stitchpunk. She wondered if she had somehow read her expression. She doubted she did.

"Sorry, I was just...thinking." Coraline looked away. 7 looked worried, but she didn't ask any more questions.

9 suddenly stood in Coraline's cupped hands. "So what do we do? When the beldam comes out of...whatever and the full moon is out?"

Coraline hadn't thought about that. She has, but not as much as she needed to. Of course, getting them back home was the important part, but stopping the bedlam from capturing the stitchpunks was the hard part. If she captured them, then she would get Coraline as well, and put everyone in danger. If the Other Mother got ahold of the talisman she could take the stitchpunks' souls and, perhaps, Coraline's too. But what would happen if all of them got trapped in the talisman? The stitchpunks, the Other Mother, and all her new helpers. If Coraline let the stitchpunks' souls get taken away, it would make her no better than the person she was before. And she hated thinking about a year ago.

Then suddenly Coraline thought of something. "Maybe you don't have to go back home."

"What?" 7 said, raising her stitched brow.

3 and 4 flickered to each other before flickering to 9. The zippered stitchpunk didn't have the slightest idea. Stay here?

"You want us...to stay...here?" 9 asked, confused.

"Yeah," said Coraline. She was absolutely beaming. She continued telling them her idea. "This could be a better place for you to live. Here you won't have to worry about getting attacked by beasts." She was sure she was on to something. She could feel it.

The stitchpunks looked at each other, worried and overall confused. The twins were more open to the idea. They were smiling and flickering their eyes. They nodded at Coraline. 9 and 7 weren't too sure about this. Staying here? It was beautiful, and they did like the forest. But..they didn't feel like this was the right for them. How do they tell her they don't want to stay?

* * *

The night sky resembled velvet with diamonds. The stars were out and Coraline was watching them from her bed. The four stitchpunks were on the window seat.

They were still thinking about the big night when the moon is full. This was like when the stitchpunks faced the Fabrication Machine. This new challenge was more than what they expected. They imagine the Other Mother to be worse than the Machine, but after that description Coraline gave them she might as well be.

But one of things that bothered them was Coraline's suggestion to stay with her. They were really unsure. 3 and 4 seemed more openminded to the idea, but not 7 and 9. It's not that they didn't want to stay here, it's just that...they had a task in their home. The Scientist's legacy and his final wishes. It was their destiny. Telling her they want to leave would break her heart, but...they thought she'd understand. She seemed like a resilient person, and a a turndown wouldn't vex her in any way.

9 looked back at Coraline who was most likely asleep. She had been quiet for a few minutes that it seemed possible. 9 craned his neck to possibly see of she really was asleep. Coraline didn't move or say a word. She was definitely asleep. Turning back to 7 he said, "What should we say to her?"

"Well, one thing for sure is we can't stay here." 7 said. She glanced at the twins who turned around after hearing that.

' _But we want to stay here_.' 3 flickered to 7 and 9. 4 nodded his head in agreement.

"But do we really want to stay here?" 7 said. "I mean, it is a nice place, but...our lives are in the Emptiness." She glanced at the moonless night sky before continuing again. "We have a legacy. The Scientist's dying wish was to help life flourish. That's our mission."

"But so is this." 9 said.

3 and 4 flickered to each other with wonderment.

"Look, we were brought here for a reason." 9 continued. "We may not have known it right away, but..we were sent here...to help her." He pointed to the sleeping Coraline.

"I know we were sent to help her." said 7. "But staying here...you heard what Wybie said. Two hundred years. If we stay here...are we going to have to wait that long for another portal to open? I...I don't know. I don't think staying here us the answer."

"Do you think Coraline asking us to stay is her way of protecting us?" 9 inquired.

7 looked over at Coraline; 3 and 4 craned their necks to catch a glimpse of her. In her thoughts she was right, but her soul told her otherwise. Could she be trying to keeping them from going through this whole ordeal?

"I suppose it is." 7 replied. "What other explanation can there be?"

9 shrugged and looked down at the floor, thinking. He knew she was right. And telling Coraline the news would break her in every way.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, I'm back. I got chapter nine up. Anyways, I feel better after that last chapter I posted. It just feels like I'm posting the same thing over and over again. *sigh* Yeah, well, hopefully, I'll come up with some better ideas for this fic.**

* * *

Coraline thumped down the stairs in a hurry. She had her purse with her, and the stitchpunks were hiding in it. Today she was going to spend the day with her parents in town. She needed a distraction from the everything that's happening.

Her parents said she could bring Wybie along, but she said that she wanted to spend time with them alone. Besides, she wanted to show the stitchpunks the rest of the world, which was alright with them.

Once she was in the car they drove off. Coraline had her alchemy book she borrowed from the library. Even though two weeks hadn't passed, she wanted to turn it in early. Coraline had it open on her lap. She had it opened to the symbols page; there she saw the symbols on the talisman. To think that these three magical symbols could bring so much to a person.

The stitchpunks peeked from inside the purse, eyes focusing on Coraline. They were wondering when they would arrive to town. They wondered what they would do when they get there.

The drive was rather enjoyable, it was more enjoyable when Coraline saw the town in the distance. She closed the book and grabbed her purse, getting ready. They were already passing the buildings and they were on their way to a parking space. They were parked on front of an antique store. Coraline suddenly remembered what 9 told her.

Getting out of the car, Coraline said, "The library's just around the corner. I'll go ahead and return this book."

"Want us to come with you?" Mel offered.

"No. I'm good."

Coraline walked down the street, the book safe in her arms. She heard clicking noises coming from her purse, probably the twins. Their eyes clicked when the communicated with their lights. Turning the corner, she opened her purse and she saw 3 and 4 flickering to her.

"What is it?" she whispered to them.

7's head popped out. "They're saying they wanted to go into the antique store."

"Oh." Coraline said. "Well, maybe we'll go later."

3 and 4 smiled and went back inside Coraline's purse. Coraline continued on in a hurry. Suddenly, flashes of the Other Mother and the talisman raced through her mind.

She returned the book in an instant and afterwards she went back to her parents who were waiting for her right by the antique store.

"Okay, I'm ready now." Coraline said. "Where should we go first?"

"I was thinking we'd go to the department store and buy you a new dress." Mel said. "Cause your friends are gonna come soon."

Sure enough, Heather called this morning and said that she and Mike are going to come on the twentieth. Coraline figured the full moon would be gone by then, or that was the date she chose to come. Either way, the last day of school in Michigan was in June. It was getting close to that day.

The Jones family went to the department store to buy Coraline's dress. The dress Coraline picked out was wine-colored fishtail dress with a v-neck. It was absolutely perfect on her.

For the rest of the day, they went to the florist to pick out new flowers to plant in the garden. Coraline chose cornflowers and lilies of the valley to plant near the path that led to the forest. (The stitchpunks thought they looked nice).

After lunch at the Panera, Coraline insisted they'd go to the antique shop they parked in front of. Her parents were confused at first but they took her anyways. Once inside, Coraline went ahead and walked towards the grandfather clock. She opened her purse a little and she at last spoke to the stitchpunks.

"So, what did you want to see?" Coraline asked them.

"They wanted to see the mirror there." 7 pointed to a large, floor-to-ceiling mirror in the back. Coraline looked over her shoulder, she caught sight of the mirror.

It was magnificent compared to the other items in the store. Coraline walked up to it, she observed its arabesque case. The store owner saw her curiosity and walked on up to her.

"It looks nice, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah." Coraline replied, glancing at the woman. She looked back at the mirror, apparently taken by its beauty.

"It's from the late 1700's." the woman continued. "It was first owned by a witch and her coven. They used it for scrying and telling the future. Some say they even used it for opening portals to another world."

"Really?"

"The document's not entirely clear on that." the store owner said.

Coraline looked over at her parents who were observing a tea set. She thought she make this quick.

"Well, thanks for the info." Coraline said to the store owner. The woman went back to stocking her shelves.

Something got Coraline's attention. It was a birdbath. It was right next to the counter. Coraline loved it. The stitchpunks also saw it, watching it from her purse.

"Hey dad," she called. "Can we get this?"

Charlie Jones walked on over and examined the birdbath. It was made of concrete and had gems on the bowl.

"I don't know." he mused. "Looks pretty expensive." He looked over at the store owner. "How much does this cost?"

The woman turned around, catching sight of the birdbath. "Oh, it's originally eighty dollars, but it's on sale for fifty dollars."

Charlie looked back at the birdbath. Mel meandered up to them, wondering what could be so interesting about an old birdbath. After consideration, Charlie said, "We'll take it."

"Excellent," the store owner walked up to the register, ready to bill them. "Will that be cash or credit?"

"Credit." said Charlie Jones.

While Charlie was busy paying the woman, Mel took another careful look at the birdbath. "Are you sure you want this?"

"Yeah." said Coraline. "Wouldn't this be great for our garden?"

"It **is** nice." Mel said, nodding and running her fingers around the edge.

"Okay, we'll have the birdbath delivered to you tomorrow at the latest." said the store owner. "Have a nice day!"

"You too." Charlie waved goodbye to the woman, and went back to his wife and daughter. "We have ourselves a birdbath."

"Great." Coraline said.

The three left the antique store and piled into their car. Coraline closed her purse halfway to let the stitchpunks see out the window. Their day was wonderful, and they wished their days could be like this everyday.

When they arrived home Coraline immediately got out of the car and went into the garden.

"I'm going to see which spot is perfect for the birdbath." she told her parents.

She watched her parents go inside the house. Once they were out of sight, that's when Coraline made her move. She walked up to the path that lead to the forest. She opened her purse and scooped the four stitchpunks out.

"Come on," she said.

"Wait." 7 said.

"What is it?"

"We need talk."

"Okay." Coraline went to one of the benches and sat down. Coraline noticed that the stitchpunks were bothered by something. "What is it?"

7 was the one who spoke first, "It's about your offer to stay with you." That's when her face twisted with unease. Coraline's own face grimaced. "We..we've been talking last night..." She looked over at 9 and the twins. "We...feel like this isn't the right place for us."

"What?" Coraline uttered in disbelief. "But why? This could be a better place for you. You could—"

"But." 9 interjected. "This is not where we belong." He looked down at the ground, thinking. He actually looked genuinely sorry. He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye.

Coraline looked at 3 and 4. "Do you two feel this way?"

The twins looked at each other before answering her. This time Coraline did understand. Them. ' _Yes._ '

The blue-haired girl looked down at her lap. She obviously was in thought, but she appeared to be hurt. She was hurt that they turned down her idea of staying. But it seemed like Coraline knew this was going to happen.

"We know you want to protect us by having us stay here." 9 said. "But we have a mission in our own world. We have to protect our world like the Scientist wanted."

Coraline looked back at the stitchpunks. In her heart, she wanted them to be safe. In her mind, she knew she couldn't keep them in hiding forever. She had to let them go.

"I guess you're right." said Coraline. "I mean, here you are and I just want to keep you here forever." She chuckled. "My parents would've caught on about you guys."

"That _is_ true." 9 chuckled.

"So...you're okay with us going back to our world?" 7 asked. 3 and 4 looked at Coraline with eager eyes.

"Yeah," said Coraline after a long pause. "Besides, you'd probably get bored hiding from my parents anyway."

There was a chorus of laughs, and that just elated them immensely.

Coraline stood up. "Come on, let's go see Wybie." She walked down the forest path, balancing the four stitchpunks on her shoulders.

The wind blew, swaying the branches. The whole walk was spent with silence. They were nearing the orchard and Coraline got hopeful. When they got there Wybie wasn't there, and Coraline hoped he would be there. But she figured she'd wait for him. Sitting on a tree stump, Coraline put the stitchpunks down on the ground. 3 and 4 scurried toward the well; 9 and 7 stayed behind and watched from the stump.

A rustling in the tall grass caught their attention. Coraline and the stitchpunks tensed; 3 and 4 ran back to Coraline's side and hid behind 7. 7 lowered her skull helmet, gripping her spear. Coraline waited, the rustling sounded and she hoped it wouldn't be trouble. She waited...to their relief and surprise it was the black cat. 7 lifted her bird skull from her face and just relaxed, appeased. 3 and 4 calmed and smiled. They scurried towards the cat in excitement.

"Hello, there," said Coraline. "What brings you here?"

The black cat walked towards her, the twins walking beside him. He rubbed against Coraline's legs, his tail hoisted in the air. 9 approached the cat and he held up his hand. The cat sniffed him and 9 petted his nose. The cat laid down on his side and the twins went ahead and scratched his head. Coraline giggled.

Moments later Coraline heard the familiar sound of a motorcycle. Wybie was coming. He soon arrived, wearing that skull-painted helmet. The cat rose up and walked up to him. Wybie parked his motorcycle, lifted his helmet, and strolled over to Coraline.

"Sorry if I kept you waiting." he said.

"No worries," replied Coraline. "I just got here."

The black cat stood up on his feet and walked toward. He rubbed against his legs. Wybie bent down and stroked his back.

"How was your family outing?" Wybie asked.

"Great," replied Coraline. "I had fun, and we bought a new birdbath. We're getting it delivered tomorrow."

Wybie nodded. He faced the stitchpunks. "Did you guys have fun?"

Immediately, the twins nodded their heads. They flashed their eyes in excitement. They flickered their eyes so fast that it was hard for 7 to understand them. The female stitchpunk chuckled, saying, "They had a great time."

Wybie chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah."

There was an awkward silence for a while after.

"So, uh, how are doing with the...plans?" Wybie asked nervously.

It seemed like Coraline was more nervous than him. "Well, I've had plenty of time to think about it, but most of my ideas don't sound practical or realistic. I mean—" She motioned to the well,"—I was thinking of drawing a salt circle around the well, to keep the Other Mother from escaping."

"I think that sounds great," 9 said.

"Yeah, but then what?" Coraline said. "If she brings one of her cronies with her...I don't know what to think."

7 ponders that idea for a moment. "What if we fought the beasts she brings?" she finally said. Coraline actually considered that idea. But, what happens after that?

3 and 4 flickered their eyes. Coraline wished she understood, so she wouldn't have to rely on 7 for translation. But she also wished they could speak vocally. But as always, 7 jumped in and translated.

"What are they saying?" Coraline asked.

"They're saying they can use some of the spells they've read back in the Emptiness." She said.

"Spells?" Wybie uttered quizzically.

"Yeah." 7 said. "They've read plenty of occult books, and they're ready to try some out."

Coraline and Wybie looked at each other. Wybien was a bit of a skeptic on magic. He didn't really believe in it too much. But he figured he'd give it a try since the full moon was making its way.

"Does that sound okay?" 9 asked them.

"Yeah," said Coraline. She then looked over at Wybie and said, "What do you think?"

Wybie looked as though he snapped out of a trance. He looked at Coraline and nervously thought of a response. "Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great," Coraline said, "so, we'll have a sleepover at Wybie's tonight. I'll ask my parents if I can go. And then when Mrs. Lovato is asleep we'll sneak out and head back to this well and then—"

"Actually," Wybie cut in. "I was thinking we just see what the spell is at my house. We don't need to go to the well until the big night."

Coraline was quizzical at first, then after thinking about it she accepted his plan.

So it was settled. They would have a sleepover and they would try out one the spells the twins suggested.


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry this chapter is late. I was caught up with family-related activities, but that's not important right now. I've also been doubtful about my ideas. You'll see for yourself._

* * *

That very night Coraline went to Wybie's house for the sleepover as planned. They set up in the living room. Coraline brought 9, 7, and the twins with her, but they were in her bag. When Mrs. Lovat wasn't looking she opened her bag and told them to explore as much as they want, but to stay out of sight.

Mrs. Lovat came back from the kitchen to announce dinner was almost ready and to wait. Coraline watched her go back in the kitchen and that's when she went back to writing in her notebook. She wrote down notes on the upcoming full moon. She had all the basics down.

 _1\. Full moon._

 _2\. The talisman._

 _3\. The Other Mother._

 _4\. The beasts._

 _5\. A spell._

 _6\. Souls._

She had it all down, but seemed...lacking, in a way. She didn't have a plan to stop the Other Mother from crossing into her world, but...if there was another way to get the stitchpunks home...she'd like to hear that. For now, it was just the basics.

"So, when the full moon comes out and the portal opens." Wybie mused. "Does it...do you think...What do you think it will look like?"

Coraline glanced up, obviously fully absorbed in her thoughts. "Huh?"

"The portal." Wybie repeated. "When the full moon comes, what do you think it'll look like?"

The blue-haired girl titled her head, glancing at the ceiling in thought. "I don't know. But...after what 9 said, how the souls of his fallen friends departed, I started to imagine a green, swirling vortex."

Wybie listened to her spiel and considered that possibility. He even imagined it.

Coraline heard a small rapping on the window. She craned her neck and saw 3 and 4 motioning to her to come. She got up and waltzed over to the window. The hooded twins pointed to a black form in the half-lighted porch. She squinted her eyes, trying to see what that was. She saw a flick, she knew who that was. The cat.

"Hey look." She turned around, pointing out the window. Wybie rose up and walked over to the window. He saw the cat sitting by the steps.

"He comes around every night," he said to the twins. "I feed him and sometimes he'll bring little dead things. You know? Mice and birds. I study them and stuff."

3 and 4 flickered to them. He titled his head and furrowed his brow. He tried to understand what they were about to say. He almost had when his grandmother's voice called him and Coraline for dinner.

Dinner that night was jambalaya. Even though it was a little spicy, Coraline enjoyed it. It was better than her father's weird recipes. Every once in a while Coraline would look up to check on the stitchpunks. She noticed they were exploring the living room and being quiet.

After dinner, Coraline and Wybie helped clean up, and Mrs. Lovat even offered Coraline a batch of her jambalaya to take to her parents tomorrow. After they did the cleaning, Wybie and Coraline went back into the kitchen and pretended to be reading. Mrs. Lovat was still in the kitchen and they wondered when she was going to bed.

Wybie looked back at the window and saw the cat sitting on the sill.

"Grandma, I'm going to feed the cat." he said to his grandmother.

"Alright, Wyborne." Mrs. Lovat. "Give him some of last night's leftover rice and gravy. I'll get it out of the fridge for you."

"Okay."

Coraline looked under the couch and flash of light surprised her. It was the twins. They had hidden there to avoid getting spotted. She reached out her hand just before Mrs. Lovat drifted into the living room. She hid the twins behind her back and she saw the old woman give Wybie the plate.

"Don't stay up too late," said Mrs. Lovat.

"Grandma, we're on summer break." Wybie replied. "We don't need to get up for school anymore."

"You kids today." said Mrs. Lovat. "Always staying up till dawn. You know want they say, early to bed, early to rise."

"Yeah, grandma." Wybie retorted, opening the front door.

Mrs. Lovat walked down the hall; Coraline watched her until she was out of sight. That was when she placed 3 and 4 on the coffee table.

"Where are 9 and 7?" Coraline asked them.

The twins pointed to the left, at an end table with an antique lamb. From behind, 7 and 9 peeked out, looking sheepish. They jumped off as soon as Wybie came back inside.

"So what did you guys find?" he asked.

"Well, 9 here almost stepped on a mousetrap." 7 said. 9 rubbed the back of neck, chuckling nervously.

3 and 4 flickered an answer about their findings that only 9 and 7 understood.

"They're saying that they found the stairs to the basement." 7 said. "3 says that 4 wanted to go to down there, but she stopped him."

4 smiled kind of embarrassingly.

Wybie sat down next to Coraline. He leaned against the coffee table. "So what have you guys thought about?"

3 flickered her eyes with excitement. She was rather ebullient to give her findings to her friends.

"What did she say?" Coraline asked.

"She said she read a spell book back in the Emptiness," said 7. "She said the spell she read about was used as a trap to capture supernatural beings."

4 then nodded his head in agreement. He swiveled his head as though looking for a something. He spotted the curtains on the window and pointed to them. Wybie spun his head around and looked back at 4. 4 gestured to him to close the curtains, which he did. And then 4 projected a filmstrip.

It was a recording of a chapter in the spell book. It showed an illustration of a symbol. It looked like a pentacle. Coraline didn't recognize it. She didn't read much in the alchemy book she checked out. Now she wished she did.

"3 says it's called a 'devil's trap.'" said 9. "She says the symbol can trap anything."

"Well that's interesting." Coraline said. She grabbed her notebook and drew the symbol.

"Yeah." said 9.

"But how do we use the symbol?" Wybie asked. "Do we draw it over the well, or beside it? What?"

4 closed his eyes and shook his head, and the filmstrip was gone. He blinked before looking at his sister. 3 flickered a question to him. 'What do you think?'

And just as quickly 4 came up with an answer. _'It could work. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't use it, but...we can try.'_

"We'll think about it in the morning." said Coraline. She had a strange feeling that she understood them. She didn't know how or why. It was like somebody was whispering the answer to her in her ear.

"You two sleep, we'll keep an eye out." 7 said. 3 and 4 nodded to Coraline and Wybie.

Wybie went to turn off the lamp. Then he locked the front door. Coraline took the twins and 9 and 7 to the window for them to keep watch.

Coraline and Wybie got into their sleeping bags. Coraline kept her notebook next to her, opened to the page she was writing on. Her notes. She wondered if Wybie was asleep or not. She had to much on her mind to sleep now. There was so much to do, so much to think. She didn't think she would be able to sleep knowing she would be in danger. She didn't believe it was possible.

Suddenly she felt her head spin. She laid on her back, staring straight at the ceiling. Her eyelids felt heavy and they dared to close. Coraline couldn't fight back and she soon closed her eye and drifted into a deep, distant sleep.

* * *

 _Coraline opened her eyes to complete and utter darkness. She recognized this darkness too well and somehow, strangely, regretted ending up here. She floated in the darkness and had that familiar vibe of being watched. She didn't know who, but she could feel the presence watching her and hating her. She couldn't do anything but stay still. Coraline was completely locked inside her body._

 _And still she waited._

 _She felt a hand wrap around her wrist, and then suddenly she was being dragged. She was dragged through the pitch darkness and she saw a green outline flickering. She couldn't discern it at first, but then she recognized her. The Other Mother. Her button eyes glared at her with hate._

 _"Let me go!" Coraline screamed at her._

 _The Other Mother didn't respond. She only looked down, ordering Coraline to look too. She glanced down at the invisible ground. Deep down below, she could see a thin, delicate spiderweb. She squinted her eyes and she saw droplets of silver-white dew._

 _Horrified, Coraline knew the beldam was going to drop her there._

 _Then, almost predictably, the Other Mother loosened her grip, dropping a screaming Coraline down into the silvery spiderweb._

 _"STOP!" a male bounce shouted across the dark._

 _No sooner did the voice broke out than the Other Mother was engulfed by a fiery green light. Coraline saw a green light beam snake through the dark and twist towards Coraline. The beam wrapped around Coraline's wrist and she was being guided away from the spiderweb and the dying beldam._

 _She took one last look before completely turning away. That's when she focused on the green beam. Soon the light took the form of a human. No, not human, doll-like. A—a stitchpunk. This one was not 6, it was another stitchpunk. He had a stern-looking face with slanted pupils. Coraline saw number one through his transparent body. This was 1. The leader off he stitchpunks._

 _"You're...you're..." She could find her words. She was too shocked. Only when they stopped drift though the endless dark did she regain sense of herself._

 _"Thanks for saving me back there." Coraline finally said._

 _1 gave her a nod and then suddenly Coraline's feet touched ground. Another beam of green light snaked through blackness and coalesced into small doll-like figure. Another sticthpunk. Only this one had a patch. Coraline recognized him as 5._

 _Then three more light streaked through the darkness and took the form of small doll figure. Stitchpunks. These three were the others that died. The elderly-looking stitchpunk was 2. And there was 6. And a tall, bulky one with the number eight written on his right arm._

 _"What are you all doing here?" Coraline asked them._

 _"Watching," said 6. "Waiting."_

 _"Waiting?" Coraline uttered. "For what?"_

 _"The full moon." 2 answered._

 _The moon. That was the objective. But...what about those other things 6 told her be aware of? The beast? Come to think of it, Coraline hadn't seen any beasts since the praying mantis terrorizing her garden. Could they have been doing something to keep them away?_

 _"The answer is yes." 1 said. Coraline looked at him, acting as though she were waking up from a trance. He was answering her mental question. "Yes, we have been keeping the beast at bay. We've been watching you and your friend. And we've been informing the black cat about the beasts' whereabouts."_

 _The cat. So that's the reason she hasn't seen any beasts. The cat had been killing them off. But how have they've been communicating with the act and giving him this information?_

 _"We've been watching," said 2, gliding up to her. "We've been watching you and 7 and 9 and the twins." He smile at her and touch her cheek. "You're doing just fine to me."_

 _Coraline did a half smile, but it was mostly a forced fake smile. She didn't know how to feel. Whether to feel happy or sad or upset. Right now she was feeling helpless. She peered at the invisible ground, frowning._

 _"You are not alone, child," 2's voice said. Coraline glanced up this time, her heart stinging. She remembered this feeling a year ago when she encountered the ghost children in the Other World. And again when she met them in her dream. Seeing 2's smile warmed her heart and reminders her that wasn't alone._

 _She looked over at the others. 5 was giving her a nod and 6 was smiling. 8 gave her a smile and a nod. Coraline then looked at 1. He was smiling at her. That type of smile that told her they were there for her. And they were right. She knew it. She could feel it._

 _Suddenly the stitchpunk souls were dimming and they were being blown away by a strange wind she could not feel. Then a fog rolled in and it obfuscated the green souls. They glowed beautiful through the veil._

 _Then Coraline heard a familiar song thrum through her body and she felt blissful._

 _"Remember," 1's voice said to her. "we are always there for you. And we'll always be."_

 _That was the last thing she heard before everything went completely dark._

* * *

 ** _*_ sigh* I know I wasn't going to use 5, 6, 8, 2, and 1 in this story...but I couldn't help it. I had so much time to think things through, and it feels like I'm leaving them left out, and I just couldn't help myself. I don't know what else to say. I'm..I'm real confused right now. The good thing is I only made them appear to Coraline in her dreams. **

**Well, I hope chapter eleven pays off like this one.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry it took forever, I was struck by writer's block, but I got my inspiration back. I've also been busy outside of the internet. Been bugged by homework. But I can't wait until next break when I have more time to write.**

* * *

Coraline's eyes opened to a bright light. After blinking for a few seconds, Coraline realized it was the morning sun. The sun. Morning. It was morning, and she had endured another nightmare. But this time she was saved...by them. The stitchpunks. 1, 5, 8, 6, and 2. They saved her.

She sat bolt up, her eyes scanning the living room. She was here safe and sound. She thought back to the nightmare, and was glad to be safe and whole. She looked over at the window. 3, 4, 7, and 9 were standing on the sill. They were looking out the window, at the rising sun. Coraline glimpsed at Wybie. He was still asleep. She wondered how he'd be sleeping. Getting out of her sleeping bag, Coraline grabbed her messenger bag and rummaged through it.

9 turned around, having heard her. "What's wrong, Coraline?"

7 and the twins looked over their shoulders.

Coraline didn't answer him, only searched in her bag until she found it. The talisman. She brought it with her so her parents wouldn't find it.

A moan resonated. Wybie was waking up. Good. Now she could tell them what she found out.

"Guys, Wybie," she said, sitting on the couch. "I have to tell you something."

"What?" asked Wybie, getting out of his sleeping bag.

"I had this dream," said Coraline. "I dreamt that the Other Mother was attacking me. But this time...the others saved me."

"The 'others'?" 9 said, quizzically.

"Your friends." Coraline replied. "The other stitchpunks that died. 2, 6, 5, 8, and 1. They saved me."

3 and 4 leaped from the windowsill and scampered towards Coraline. They climbed up her legs and reached her lap, flashing their eyes at her. Obviously, they were riled up from hearing her story.

7 leaped and lifted her bird skull. "Did they say anything?"

"Yeah," said 9, "what did they say?"

"They said that they have been watching us, and that they've been helping us by getting the cat to hunt down the beasts."

"Beasts?" 9 said.

"There were beasts?" Wybie quoth. "And we didn't even know about it?"

"I know, right?" said Coraline. "We didn't even know about them until now. We've just been...caught up in other stuff. We've worrying ourselves over the full moon and the portal that we've been ignoring what was important."

"Yeah," said Wybie, "you're right. We haven't been paying a lot of attention to that." He looked down at the floor. He took a seat on the couch, trying to think up the words.

"Don't blame yourselves," said 7. She jumped off the windowsill and landed on her feet. "You didn't know. And how were you suppose to know when you had these other things to worry about? No, it's not your fault." She added when she saw Coraline's expression.

"We still have time before the full moon." said 9. "We have enough time to think and plan. And when the day comes...we'll know what to do."

That's what Coraline hoped. And she hoped he was right.

* * *

Two days passed after that. It seemed like the night of the full moon was farther and farther away.

Coraline stood on the bridge of her garden, looking down at the red tulips. She had a lot on her mind. One might say she had too much on her mind. She just couldn't handle it. What was she going to do? All this worry made her feel helpless.

She didn't know what to do.

Coraline looked over at the stitchpunks. She saw them on the birdbath. The birdbath arrived yesterday like promised, and it was a good touch to the garden. The twins seemed to like it. 9 and 7 were sitting on the edge, their feet dipped in the water. Coraline walked up to the birdbath.

"Hey guys." She stooped down beside the birdbath. 3 and 4 waved to her while 9 nods to Coraline. "How are you guys doing? Any ideas?"

There were shrugs and some no's. She wondered if they were as worried as she was. They might as well be.

"I know the full moon is coming and we're all scared," Coraline voiced. "And we don't have much time left, so..." She stopped abruptly. She didn't know what else to say, but she was afraid of saying the wrong thing.

Coraline wondered, with a handful of regret, what the Other Mother might be planning. No doubt she was gloating in her desolate realm of darkness, laughing in her face. Coraline shuddered, and shrugged the thought out of her mind.

"Coraline?" 9 said. Coraline looked at him. She looked at him, and 7, and the twins. She looked at them and the thought of the ghost children the beldam trapped. She thought about the hardships they suffered, and what the stitchpunks went through.

Her parents didn't know about the stitchpunks. How was she going to tell them about them? What was she going to do on the night of the full moon? How was she going to explain it? Did they need to know anyway? Coraline's parents didn't remember their time in the snowglobe. It was better they didn't know. Besides, the best plan Coraline thought of was sneaking out in the middle of the night while they're asleep.

She hoped they would be out of harm's way. Luckily, Heather and Mike wouldn't be here when it happens. That was a bright side for Coraline.

Suddenly, Coraline saw a figure by the path to forest. It was the cat. He was running towards her. She looked closer, he had something in his mouth. She didn't know what it was.

"Look." Coraline pointed at the the black cat. The stitchpunks looked down at the cat, and focused on his mouth. Coraline took the ragdolls out of the birdbath and set them down on the ground.

"What is it?" she asked the cat. The cat dropped the object onto the ground. It was a mouse, but it wasn't a mouse. Not a flesh-and-blood mouse. It was all metal limbs and robotic eyes. It had fur, which was surely fake fur. Coraline could spot-on see that this was a beast created by the Other Mother. But where did it come from? How did it get here in the first place?

3 and 4 crept up to the dead mouse beast. They catalogued it.

"Where did you find it?" Coraline asked the cat. She was hoping the cat would know and she'd know how to stop this from happening again. Fortunately, the cat lead her to it. Coraline followed and the stitchpunks trailed behind.

They were already heading into the forest. Coraline wondered how far this spot might be. She looked over her shoulder, she saw the stitchpunks falling behind. She stopped and knelt down, extending her had to them. She looked back at the black cat, he stopped and watched, waiting for her. The stitchpunks got on her hand and she got back up and they continued on their journey.

The place the cat took them was far from her home. He took them down the same path to the orchard, but her to the huge hill. Coraline had to stop and carry the stitchpunks in her hands. The journey continued until they stopped by a dead tree. It had a hollow. The cat blinked at her. Coraline understood that she needed to look inside. She did and she was met with nothing but darkness.

"Do you see anything?" She held the stitchpunks closer to the hollow. 3 and 4 flickered their eyes, drawing Coraline's attention. She wondered what they were trying to say. 9 looked back at her, shrugging.

"I don't know what's down there, or how they got out." Coraline spoke out. "But—" she looked down at the cat, his blue eyes giving her that look. The one when Coraline did realized the truth of things. "—I know that...we can't let her win. I can't let her win."

She looked at the ground. She though back to her dream. About what 1 told her. That they were watching. How were they watching? Were they here, in this forest? Were they far? Were they close? Coraline wished they were here right now. She faced back to catch the panoramic view of her house. Watching her house from this height made her feel like a queen. Omniscient and all-powerful. She wished she could be that and noting more. But she was just a girl. A normal, ordinary human girl.

Coraline gazed at the house and deduced that if she jumped from this height, she would be at her house in the blink of an eye. She wished the days could go faster. She wished she could skip to the day _after_ the full moon. With all this stress, Coraline would rather skip to a happier time than to go through this excruciating experience. But something changed in her just now. She was wishing to be somewhere else, but now...she was actually feeling brave. She looked at 9 and 7 and 3 and 4 and the cat.

Coraline understood now. It was because she had everyone important with her. Wybie, her parents. They supported her through every trial she underwent. They were always there for her. Even though Coraline felt like she as alone, she knew she wasn't, because she had friends. She always remembered when she had a bad day. She didn't understand why she felt alone when she wasn't. But she knew when she wasn't.

When the full moon came, Coraline would be ready. She had her friends. She wasn't 'to going to let the stitchpunks fall victim to the Other Mother. She was going to beat her. She would save the stitchpunks as well as herself and her parents and the rest of the world. Somehow, Coraline was okay with letting the stitchpunks leave. Because even when they went back to their world, they would still be with her.

In her heart.


	12. Chapter 12

**Here it is. The moment you've all been waiting for. I'm excited and terrified at the same time.**

* * *

Three days passed and everything appeared to be the same as before.

A year ago, Coraline would've been trapped on the Other World forever if it hadn't been for the cat and the ghost children. And she would have help in the upcoming night. The full moon was almost here and she was stressed out as it is.

She was, in the meantime, lounging in the drawing room. She was curled up in the armchair, the four ragdolls were sitting around her. 9 and 7 were on her shoulders, and the twins were on her lap. They saw how worried she was. They tried to tell her that it was going to be alright, but Coraline didn't seem convinced. She was reassured, yes, but she was still worried nonetheless.

Coraline glanced at the little door every few seconds or so. To aww if it was still there. It was silly, but she had a notion that told her that if she looked away, the door would disappear. That seemed stupid to Coraline now, but she did it anyways. But where would the door go to if it disappeared? It couldn't disappear, even if the Other Mother made it so.

This was getting all too suffocating.

Footsteps resonated. It was either Coraline's mother or father. Or maybe both. Either way, the stitchpunks jumped off the armchair and hid underneath. Coraline waited and it was her mother.

"Coraline," she said, "your father and I are going to the boss's birthday party tomorrow night. It's last minute and I know you can handle yourself, but I just wanted to let you know, okay?"

"Okay, mom." Coraline said. "Can I invite Wybie to stay over?"

"Sure, honey," said Mel. "Order a pizza if you get hungry."

"Great," the blue-haired girl grinned. Mel Jones walked away. Coraline waited until she was out of sight to let the stitchpunks know it was safe.

"Waht's going on?" 7 asked.

"My parents are going to out tomorrow night." Coraline explained. "So it's just going to be us and Wybie tomorrow."

She stooped down, holding out her hand; the stitchpunks climbed up her arm and perched themselves on her shoulder. Coraline went upstairs to her room, she had this nagging sensation tugging at her strings. She didn't know what it was, but she had to find out. Coraline was about to lounge in her bed when she looked at her calendar. Something was reeling her in. She walked up to it. She checked the date. Today was the thirteenth. Tomorrow was going to be the fourteenth. The fourteenth! The full moon! Coraline had forgotten about the big night, and she hadn't thought of a plan yet. This was going to be a disaster.

"What's going on?" 7 inquired.

"Tomorrow is the fourteenth." Coraline answered. "The full moon is tomorrow and I don't even have a plan yet."

Coraline sat on her bed. What was she going to do? The full moon was tomorrow and she probably had put the world in danger. What if she doesn't send the stitchpunks back home? What if the Other Mother captures them? What if she gets captured too?

7 leaped off her shoulder. The twins jumped off afterwards, and then 9.

"Coraline," said 7, "listen, I know you're scared about tomorrow. We all are. But..." She looked down, as though trying to figure out what to say next. She seemed like she was having a hard time trying to say what she was about to say.

"Listen, when your parents were taken, did you have a plan?" 9 asked.

"Well, no," Coraline replied, "not really. I didn't really plan it out when I went back to the Other World. I just had to choose escape routes when needed. I basically played it out in my head as I searched for the eyes."

3 and 4 flickered to each other, as though talking about Coraline's plan.

"You weren't alone on that battle before." 9 said. "And you're not alone now either." 9 placed his tiny hand on Coraline's large hand.

The twins smiled and nodded to Coraline. 7 looked up Coraline, she gave her one of her encouraging smiles. The blue-haired girl looked down at the four stitchpunks and tried to smile. It was hard when she the Other Mother intoxicated her mind.

"You'll be fine." 7 said. 3 and 4 flickered good luck to her.

Coraline smiled at last. She wasn't feeling entirely alone knowing that she had them and Wybie to depend on.

She picked up the talisman from her nightstand. She held it in her palm, her eyes bore into its arcane symbols. Tomorrow she would be using it in her right against the Other Mother. She would be using it send them back home. Coraline felt on the verge of undergoing her life-changing challenge. A lot of things changed in her life. But most importantly, she changed. Coraline changed without knowing it.

And after tomorrow night, things will still continue to change.

Coraline spent an hour drawing up a map of the orchard and going over it with the stitchpunks. And today she was going over it again.

"This is the orchard," Coraline said, pointing at the drawing with a marker, "and this is the well." She pointed at the drawing of the well. We go out, and wait for the right moment. When the portal opens, you guys enter it as fast as you can and Wybie and me will handle the Other Mother."

"But wait," 9 interjected, "what if the Other Mother blocks the entrance? Let us fight her long enough for you to use the talisman to kill her and then we'll cross the portal."

"But what if she takes the talisman?" 7 asked.

There was that possibility. Coraline lost the seeing stone back in the Other World, and she couldn't do anything about it. If the Other Mother takes the talisman, then it would be all over. But if she could take the talisman away from her before she made her move, then she would be able to send the stitchpunks home.

How could Coraline not see this possibility?

"The Other Mother won't take the talisman," 9 said, seeing her worried face. "I promise you."

Coraline lightened up after hearing that, but she still lingered on that thought.

"Don't worry about it too much." 9 uttered. "We'll be fine."

That's what she hoped.

* * *

Today was the day. The fourteenth. The full moon would come out tonight. Coraline was shaking pins and needles. The big night arrived and she was wishing to go back in time and stay in the past.

It was right around noon, and Coraline was lounging in the drawing room. She sat down in her favorite armchair, staring at the little door. A year ago she opened the door and now it was about to happen all over again. Only this time, she was prepared, a little more aware, and a lot more mature. Coraline was sure she would handle this.

The four stitchpunks were sitting around her. 9 and 7 were on the armrest, and the twins were spitting on her lap. They were scared and excited for this night. It felt like they were undergoing a life changing deed. This was more treacherous than the Fabrication Machine. They might end up losing their lives in this fight.

But after tonight, it'll seem like nothing ever happened. But Coraline couldn't pretend like that anymore. She had to face her fears or else they'll take control of her forever.

"How do you guys feel?" Coraline asked the four stitchpunks. They were silent for a moment. She could feel their shakiness. She understood what they felt. And she knew that in the end it was no big deal.

"Well," 7 began, "we've all been waiting for this moment a little longer than we expected. Now that it's here..."

"You want to turn back." Coraline finished for her. 7 tilted her head and just gave her a sort of appeased look.

3 and 4 flickered to each other, having their personal sibling conversations.

"It's going to be alright." Coraline said, she felt uneasy as though some presence was watching her. She looked at the little door and felt that vibe envelope her all over again. She glanced back at the stitchpunks and just hoped for the best.

Around three o'clock, Coraline's parents were getting ready for the boss's birthday party tonight. Even though it was early, Wybie came over as planned. Coraline's parents were leaving at five o'clock, so there was still some time. She and Wybie headed outside just to get started.

"We're just going to go for a walk around the garden," said Coraline to her parents. She and Wybie went on their way to the garden. When they reached the bridge that's where Coraline stopped.

"What's wrong?" Wybie inquired.

"I just need some time to rethink my plan," she answered.

The four stitchpunks looked at one twins flickered at 9 and 7, telling then they should say something. 9 looked over at 7, giving her a soulful look. The white stitchpunk glanced at Wybie and 9 and back, kind of like asking, with her expression, that they should say something. Wybie glances at Coraline then looks at the ragdolls.

Coraline could sense their glances. She knew they were concerned. They wanted to help, but she didn't think they would be able to help. She knew she wasn't alone, but she still felt painfully lonely. She just wanted this day to pass, so she could move on and forget about it.

She looked over at the stitchpunks. She figured that part of the reason she was stressed out was because she had to let them go. She was going to miss them once they return to their own world. But she knew they'd be alright.

"I'm just upset because...," she glanced at the ground, her eyes boring in the tulips below, "I guess it's because I have to see you guys go."

9 and 7 looked hurt; the twins flickered to each other, then looked at Coraline. They looked as though they were trying to hide the hurt, but they had to let it out.

"We know, Coraline," 7 said. "We know you're going to miss us when we leave. And...we're going to miss you too."

3 and 4 nodded their heads to her.

"Really?" Coraline sounded close to tears. She found this so overwhelming, but also it was reassuring.

"Yeah," said 9. "We're going to miss you and Wybie and all this." He extended his arms, referring to the flora and faunal around them.

"I still wish you didn't have to go." Coraline said.

"I know," said 7, "but we have to. But I promise you this: we're not going to forget you."

Coraline smiled.

The sun was setting around eight o'clock. Coraline looked out the window, gazing at the trees. The sky was a dark blue with bright orange, the sun resembled an orange in the middle of the horizon.

Coraline's parents left for the party hours ago, so now she was alone with the stitchpunks and Wybie.

They had just finished eating, and now they were waiting for the right moment to leave. Coraline looked out the window, her heart raced and her armpits sweated and stomach twisted. This was the big night and she was about to face the Other Mother again.

By the time Coraline grabbed her messenger bag, Wybie was already waiting by the door with the four dolls on his shoulders. Coraline locked the door, put the key in her pocket and ran with Wybie. They first needed to get some supplies. They went into the garden shed. Wybie and Coraline grabbed as many tools as they can. The pliers. A trowel. Wybie took a shovel, and he also took the crowbar.

Coraline looked out the skylight, the sun was setting, they had to hurry. Now that they had their weapons, the two hightailed out of there, hearts pounding with anticipation. They ventured into the forest. Along they way they saw the cat, he joined them to the orchard.

Once they arrived they stood over the well, waiting.

"Now what?" Wybie asked. Coraline looked up at the sky. The sky was darkening. She glanced at the moon. It was full alright. The night that would change her life forever. She only had one thing to say.

"We wait."

She stooped down, looking at the knothole on the lid. Wybie crouched, the stitchpunks jumped off his shoulders. They gathered around the wooden lid, looking at it with fear and wonder.

Coraline glanced up, the moon wasn't high enough. Not yet. Now wasn't the time. She would know when.

"Coraline?" 9 said.

The girl looked down, she looked at 7 and the twins. They were sporting the same worried looks whenever she gets like this.

Wybie swiveled his head, looking at the stars. He looked at the full moon. "Hey guys, look!" He pointed at the sky. Coraline looked up again, focusing on the moon. She didn't see anything at first, but after a minute she saw it.

"The stars!" She pointed to the three little stars next to the full moon. Compared to the moon they were puncture marks.

9, 7, 3, and 4 gathered around the well, gazing up at the stars. They saw the three stars that would open the portal back to their home.

"Okay guys, get ready." Coraline said.

Wybie took the crowbar and wedged it under the lid. He used his foot to push the crowbar, opening the lid. Coraline lifted the lid and pushed it aside. The stitchpunks watched from a safe distance. She gazed back at them with worry. She focused on 9, they both knew that this night was going to arrive. And now there was no turning back.

"Hey look." Wybie pointed to the well. A strange green light glowed from inside. The portal was opening. Now was the time.

9 and 7 and the twins were filled with anticipation. This was their moment to return home.

Coraline opened her bag mad rummage in it. She pulled out the talisman. She looked at in her palm. 6 said she could use it to send them back home. And now seemed like the right time.

The blue-haired girl was about to activate the talisman when 9's voice cut through the air.

"Coraline! Look!" The stitchpunk pointed to the glowing well. Coraline looked inside and saw a form climbing up. She knew without a doubt who that was.

The Other Mother.


	13. Chapter 13

The gang stood before the well, green light glowing form within. Inside, the Other Mother was crawling her way up.

"What to we do?" Wybie shouted.

Coraline's eyes darted from left to right in a panic. She looked down into the well, the beldam was close to getting out. She looked at the cat, who was standing a few feet away from the well. The moment she looked into the well was the moment she saw her nightmares flooding her mind.

"Coraline!"

Wybie's voice cut through just in time. Coraline leaped and cut off one of the beldam's hands with the trowel. The Other Mother let out a grunt, pulling back her arm stump. Wybie and Coraline looked down, below there were some beasts crawling up the well. Coraline swore she recognized them.

"What are those?" Wybie asked.

"Seekers." 7 said, gripping her spear. She recognized them anywhere. And on instinct, she lowered her bird skullmet and pounced on the ones that reached the surface.

Now the Other Mother was halfway out. She looked much different than before. Coraline remembered that she had a spider thorax last time, now she had a serpentine torso. Her eyes used to be black buttons, now they were red robotic spherical eyes. She almost resembled one of the beasts that 9 talked about. Which one was it? Oh, the Seamstress. The Other Mother somehow merged with this beast, and now she had even more power to stop her.

"I know what you're thinking," said the Other Mother. "Thought you had defeated me? Locked me away forever? Oh no. I've been watching you from my web. I see you watching my door, always wondering what would have happened if you lost the game. Oh yes, I see it in your eyes. Well, tonight, you're going to make my dream come true and there's nothing can do."

Coraline listened, but at the same time, mortified. All this time, a whole year. She thought she was smart, but the Other Mother was always one step ahead.

"Well, you're not going to win this time either!" Coraline thundered at the Other Mother. "Because I have friends to back me up." She threw her arms back, referring to Wybie, the black cat and the four stitchpunks.

The Other Mother spotted the talisman in Coraline's hand. If she could just get her hands on it, then her plans to take over this world will be complete. She just had to reach...

The beldam's torso opened up to reveal a line of thread spools and sewing needles. Coraline also saw mechanical, three-fingered hands that unfurling themselves from the Other Mother's stomach cavity. This was bad, Coraline saw, but she was going to fight with all her might to save her friends.

"Give me that!" The Other Mother wriggled, trying to reach the Coraline. The blue-haired girl glimpsed at the talisman in her hand. She was not going to lose this more was she going to give this to her. She had to think fast. She saw 7 and 9 fighting the Seekers...That's it! Coraline knew just what to do.

"We're going to play a game," said Coraline boldly, smiling. She closed her hand, the talisman was cold under her hand. "You're going to have to find the talisman first if you want them." She cocked her head to the stitchpunks. The twins flickered their eyes to Coraline, not fully understanding her plan. She nodded to them, and gave them a sly wink. The hooded twins finally understood and they gave her a nod in approval.

The beldam let out a frustrated grunt and three her head to the side. "Seekers, get the talisman from her!"

"Oh no you don't!" Coraline threw the talisman towards the trees...the black cat ran at full speed...he climbed up the trunk...and caught the talisman in his mouth before it hit the bark. Coraline watched him climb up to the top with an army of Seekers crawling after him.

Wybie stepped on the Seekers that crawled towards him. He jumped onto the stump and fended them off with his crowbar. A hand swung past him, it was the beldam's hand. Wybie gripped his crowbar and knocked one her mechanical arms off her body. He looked at the rest of her body, she had even more arms. About ten or eleven arm at the least. The rest of her body was still in the well. How long was her new snake form?

Up in the trees, the cat jumped from to branch to branch to keep those beast from getting the talisman. He looked down, 7 and 9 were fighting off the Seekers. 3 and 4 were hiding in the grass. The twins! He could drop the talisman for them to catch. So, jumping to the highest branch, the cat opened his mouth and watched the talisman fall to the ground.

4 tugged on 3's arm, pointing to the tree. 3 saw the talisman plummeting, eyes wide. She and her brother ran towards the spot, eyes locked in the talisman. 4 caught it just time, the Seekers were swarming when they saw them emerge out of the tall grass. The twins were wishing they could speak, because then they could shout to 9 and 7. But they had to use their eye-flickering.

"9! 7! The twins!" Coraline shouted. She pointed to the tree where the twins were surrounded. 7 was the first to hear and she ran over there with ninja stealth. She stabbed the Seekers to get to the twins.

"Take my hand!" She held out her hand for them, now that she had some of the Seekers under control. The twins gripped her hand, 7 pulled them in close and stabbed another impending Seeker. 3 and 4 clung to 7, burying their faces into her chest. 4 held the talisman up to his chest; 7 could only hold them off for so long. She spotted 9, he was knocking beast after beast with his light staff.

"9!" 7 yelled. She threw the talisman, the Seekers glowing red eyes gazed at the object in midair. 9 swung his light staff at another Seeker, he leaped up, outstretched his arm, and caught the talisman.

"There!" The Other Mother shouted, pointing at the zippered stitchpunk. "Get him!" The Seekers crawled after 9, who was now running with the talisman in hand. The glow of his light staff shined like a fallen star.

Coraline grabbed the shovel, not realizing how heavy it was. She lifted it up with all her strength, and managed to scrape the Other Mother's serpent-like body. The beldam hissed at the pain and glared at the blue-haired with such disdain. She was going to need more help. Gazing down the well, she saw the Winged Beast soaring out of the well. The beast shot out of the well like a rocket, and looped around the air and circled the orchard.

"Get the talisman from him," the beldam ordered. "And bring the four dolls to me."

Wybie stared at the Winged Beast, it was exactly how the twins described it. Black wings, red eyes, resembling a pterodactyl. The beast was just how he imagined, but he needed to stop it from taking the talisman and the sticthpunks. He looked to Coraline. He grabbed her attention and pointed to the Winged Beast. She looked at it incredulously, but she had to strong. Her eyes looked from the Other Mother to the Winged Beast. She peeked once or twice at the Seekers, still keeping an eye on 9.

"Throw it to Wybie!"

9 heard her and ran towards Wybie. He dodged Seekers, hitting them with his staff. He threw it in the air...Wybie hit the Other Mother in the head with the crowbar...the talisman was almost caught by the Winged Beast...Wybie caught just in time. Now he had the talisman, what was he supposed to with it? Throw it to Coraline or run away with it? His eyes panically darted from Coraline to the beldam. What was he supposed to do? He looked up in the trees, the cat was still up there and he was going to be up there for longer. What was he going to choose?

"Catch!" He threw the talisman to Coraline, who caught it in a quick swipe. She ducked when the Other Mother's machine hands swung at her, trying to hit her. She rolled on the ground towards the tree cat was at. She stood up, glaring at the beldam. 3 and 4 scurried up to her, hiding behind her legs, away from the unfolding turmoil.

She looked at the well, it was still glowing, but for how long? She knew this couldn't go on forever, so she had to think fast. Coraline looked up at the moon, the three stars shined beside it like little jewels. The full moon would still be out for a couple of more hours, and then the portal would be closed when morning comes.

Over by the other trees, Wybie was fighting off the Winged Beast. He was swinging the crowbar around, trying to hit it. The beast hovered out of the way to avoid getting crushed. This went on until Wybie swiftly knocked to over to the ground. This was his chance so he stomped on the Winged Beast until it crackled electricity and it's eyes dimmed.

7 flung herself towards the Other Mother's torso, slicing open her fabric. The beldam reached for her with her metal arms, but the female stitchpunk dove down and rolled away from her grasp. The beldam sent the Seekers after her and to get the talisman from Coraline. Coraline, having heard, doubled back and hid behind the tree.

"You can't hide from me." the Other Mother's voice echoed. Coraline heard scuttling, she thought the beldam was crawling after her. She closed her eyes and pressed her hand against the talisman. "I'll always find you," her voice sounded like she was closer, was she behind the other side of the tree? She didn't want to know, she just shut her eyes and held her breath. "Now give me the talisman."

"No!" Coraline bellowed. Her hazel eyes snapped open, the beldam's face was right in front her, her white face striped with ink black veins. She was trapped, she had no where to run. Coraline looked up, she could climb the tree. But it was so high...

The Other Mother's red eyes glowed, her smile aligned with sharp needle teeth. Her red eyes dimmed and suddenly a white light shined. Coraline's eyes suddenly widened, it was too late. The beldam was hypnotizing her, just like the real Seamstress would do. She could hear Wybie's voice, but she couldn't do anything. She was stuck. In an instant she could see everything that happened a year ago. All the things that happened were flashing right before her eyes like a filmstrip. She saw the ghost children and the Other Wybie like it was just yesterday. She saw it all.

In an instant, she saw a crowbar stab the Other Mother's eyes and Coraline felt herself come to like she was waking up from a deep sleep. She closed her eyes to get ahold of herself. She heard the beldam scream and the a harsh yowl after that. The cat must've jumped on top of her. She rubbed her eyes and slowly opened them. Coraline saw the cat scratching the Other Mother's face, drawing thick black blood. The beldam wriggled around, her hands grabbing the cat to in an attempt to yank him off. Coraline felt a hand clap her shoulder, and then she turned to see Wybie.

"You okay?" he inquired. Coraline was too stricken to talk, she just looked at him. Her heart thumped against her chest like a drum. She turned to look at the screaming beldam fighting the angry black cat.

"Come on," said Coraline. She gripped her trowel and she raced up to the Other Mother. She stabbed her in the chest, electricity crackled around her; the cat jumped off her. The beldam backed up, pulling Coraline with her. The blue-haired girl pulled out the trowel, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. Wybie sidled up to her, holding the crowbar to his chest. He watched with anticipation, ready to strike if she attacked.

They watched. The Other Mother looked genuinely scared. She stopped crackling, but there was something else. She looked as though she was really going to die. Maybe that was it. Coraline probably didn't need the talisman to kill her, maybe that puncture was it. But then Coraline's hope faded when she saw the beldam's smile form.

"Thought you had finished me?" Her voice was like ice in her veins. She had only one good working eye now. She saw the Seekers gathering around it in excitement. 3 and 4 scurried over to Coraline, frightful. She bent down and picked them up, perching them on her shoulders. Wybie crept closer to her, shaking. The cat walked up to them, ears folding back in intimidation.

9 and 7 looked at the two before turning to the wall. They saw the green light shining inside it. The Seekers were surrounding the well, ready to attack if either of them made a move. They could only stand and watch, exhausted from frighting. They would be doing this for an eternity of the Other Mother was that stubborn. 7 looked back at Coraline and Wybie, they were cornered by the beldam. She spotted the cat with its back arched. She looked back at the well and to the Coraline and back. What was the right choice? Jump in the well and make it back home? Would she and the twins and 9 make to back home or somewhere else? This was too conflictive. 7 charged at the Other Mother, her spear pointed at her serpentine torso.

Her spear sliced open the fabric, causing the beldam to hiss back pain. She looked down at the white stitchpunk, baring her teeth at her. She reached and grabbed her with her needle hands.

"Let her go!" Coraline shouted.

"Give me that talisman." The Other Mother pointed with one of her mechanical machine arms. Her missing eye socket a gaping black hole. Coraline looked at 7 and couldn't help but feel sorry for her. If she doesn't make a decision now, they would all die.

Suddenly, a vibration thrummed in her fist. She opened her hand, looking at the talisman in fear and wonder. She saw the symbols glowing green. Was there another soul in there? One that 9 forgot to set free to the afterlife? She would never know unless she activates it. But she was too scared. What was she going to do?

It seemed like all stopped in its place. Like time had stopped.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey you guys. I got the fourteenth chapter up. We're almost there, the story's not quite over yet. Stay tuned for the next chapter.**

* * *

The talisman glowed green right before Coraline's eyes. She merely froze in place, mesmerized by its strange response. She didn't know what to do or what she should do. She just stood there.

Wybie crept closer and glanced over Coraline's shoulder. He raised a brow in confusion. He'd never seen the talisman glowing before, then again, he'd never even _used_ the talisman.

3 and 4 tugged on Coraline's hair to get her attention. She looked at them and they pointed to the sky. She looked up and only saw the full moon and the three little stars and the rest of the nightlife. She glanced back at the glowing talisman. All the adrenaline was coursing through her like icy water.

The Other Mother's hand suddenly swung at her. She didn't realize how distracted she was. Coraline ducked and leaped for the well. She laid on the ground, only inches away from the well and the portal. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Wybie grabbing at the beldam's serpent tail to stop her from getting Coraline. The cat hissed at the Other Mother before running off to peel the fabric off her tail. All that was under that was metallic spine. The beldam dug at the ground with her centipede-like legs, trying to get away. Luckily, 7 came and she slice off the legs with her spear. Afterwards, 7 leaped up and sliced open the beldam's backside. She bypassed her mechanical arms, but going it easier to jump on them to get on top of her head. The Other Mother tried to grab her, but 7's agility proved impossible.

Coraline stepped on the Seekers. There were less than before, she lost count. She saw Wybie struggling with the Other Mother. The cat slunk her way and was by Coraline's legs, as though acting as her bodyguard. The twins were on the ground, standing over the well afraid but wanted to creep closer. They thought that jumping in would take them home but were scared that they would end up in another world. 3 and 4 just stood there, helpless.

She looked down at the talisman, it's symbols glowing like embers. She didn't understand what she was suppose to do or what to think. Coraline looked on at the Other Mother. Wybie still grabbed on to the beldam's tail. He used the crowbar to cut open her tail, in an effort to slow her down.

"Coraline." 9's voice stopped Coraline's train of thought. She looked to see the little stitchpunk standing before her feet, his light staff aglow. He fought valiantly to defend her and save his family. Standing here doing nothing was unfair, and Coraline was not going to continue standing here while her friend sacrifice themselves for her sake.

"9," she kneeled before him, "the talisman...it's glowing. What does that mean?" She shows him the talisman and waited for his answer.

"I've never seen this before." he said, furrowing his brow. "I'd say the reason it glows is because there's a soul in there, but there aren't. So I don't know what else to say or think." He looked over his shoulder, peering at the beldam. She managed to free herself from Wybie and she was already slithering towards her.

Coraline felt a pinch on her arm. She looked down at the twins, they were genuinely scared. They were scared that they would die if the Other Mother captured them and 7 and 9. They just clung to Coraline's wrist and flashed a respond. 9 wrapped his arm around 3, giving her a little support. He looked over at 4 and clapped his shoulder. The hooded twins looked at him and felt safer, but still a little scared.

Wybie dragged the Other Mother by her tail. She was heavy, and he wasn't as strong as he thought. He gripped her tail and dragged as far as he could. Then suddenly she stopped. He looked up and saw that the beldam had grabbed on to a tree root. The rest of her mechanical arms held on to the grass or a rock. Wybie just held on and pulled in the hopes that she would eventually let go. He kept this up for a few seconds until he heard a tear. He saw the Other Mother's tail ripping open. In seconds, the whole tail came off. Now it was just the beldam with half a torso. The rest was just her upper body and her machine arms.

7, who had reached the top of her head, tumbled down and rolled onto the ground, dropping her spear in the fall. She hit her head, but was she wore her skullmet. She opened her optics slowly and the full moon was the first thing she saw. The stars beside the moon blinked like diamonds. She heard footfalls. Coraline's face came into view and the girl picked her up and lifted her up to her shoulder.

"Stay with the twins," she said to 7. She placed her beside the twins and she took off with her pliers in hand. She charged at the Other Mother, grabbed her by the hair, and stabbed her in the shoulder. Black blood poured from her in a torrent. One of the beldam's arms grabbed her leg. Coraline pulled her leg away but the beldam still held on. She ignored it and just went and stabbed her in the chest, more black blood streaming her.

Wybie got up on his feet and grabbed the crowbar. He hot her on the head in the hoped that she would be knocked unconscious. The Other Mother kind of swayed, her machine arms going limp. Coraline tugged her leg away from her loose grip, stepping on her hand, crushing it off the wrist. Coraline's heart thumped against her chest like a drum. She had right where she wanted her. All she needed was to stab the Other Mother in the chest and she would be dead, and this, all this, would be over. She just had to. She hoisted the pliers over her head...the beldam gained ahold of herself, almost conscious...Wybie looked at Coraline with that scared face that told her she should get it over with.

She was about to when something grabbed her attention. It was a spot in the Other Mother's chest. It looked like a socket. The blue-haired girl looked closer and realized it looks like it was meant to fit a certain...suddenly she understood. Coraline glanced back at the stitchpunks, 3 and 4 were holding the talisman, 7 and 9 stood by them, protective. They probably thought the same thing even though they weren't clairvoyant. If she could think of another way, if there was another way...Coraline wouldn't hesitate. It was as though a voice was whispering in her ear, telling her to do it. But if she put the talisman into that slot, she would be ending her own life as well as the stitchpunks. Coraline fought with the voice, telling it that wasn't right, but still the voice retaliated.

The Other Mother swiped a hand at her, trying to scratch her face. Coraline felt like she was back in the Other World al over again. She ran for the well, sliding like a baseball player in the end. She snatched the twins in her hand, almost falling into the well. Coraline rolled away, making 7 and 9 run out of her way.

"Coraline!" Wybie shouted. The hazel-eyed girl looked up, the Other Mother was already crawling up to her.

"If you want me, you'll have to take the talisman from me."

"Foolish girl, you're stranded," said the Other Mother. "There's nowhere to run. You and your friends are never escaping me. You're practically in your deathbeds as we speak."

Coraline peeked over her shoulder, staring into the well. If she could somehow get the beldam to jump into the well she'd be safe. She looked down at the twins, she had them close to her chest, the talisman in 3's hand. She glanced back at theOther Mother, Wybie had previously dove and grabbed for whatever was left of her tail. She just had him dragging along her tail.

"Do it." 9 said to Coraline.

"What?" Coraline said in disbelief. 7 and the twins blinked their optics. Like they couldn't believe he would say such a thing.

"Do it." he repeated. "It's the only way. I know it. I feel it."

Coraline bit her lip. From what he told her of his past, he would be repeating it all over again. She looked back at the beldam, she was almost to her, and Wybie couldn't hold her back any longer. She closed her eyes tight, squeezing the twin stitchpunks in her hands, nearly suffocating them. She felt the pressure weigh her down and it colored the world. Coraline's eyes snapped open.

The twins jumped off after Coraline loosened her grip; 3 left the talisman in her palm. The blue-haired girl glared at the Other Mother, her red mechanical eye boring into her soul and sending it asunder. 9 looked at Coraline as though timing her. 7 raised her skullmet. The twins hid behind 7, grabbing her arms. Wybie half stood on his feet and pulled the Other Mother's rippled-off tail. The beldam's needle hands latched on to the dirt.

Coraline looked at the glowing talisman, her finger tracing the symbols. She looked up and searching for the cat. She saw him over to the right, watching. He looked like he was ready to jump on the Other Mother. Coraline looked at the talisman, she rubbed her finger on the rim. She played the usual metal tug-o-war about 9's 'plan.' She no longer answered herself, bit just decided to end this.

She dove, grabbed the Other Mother's thin arms, and inserted the talisman into the her chest.

Coraline tore back, green electricity cracking. The Other Mother looked down at her chest, her expression was neither triumphant nor scared. She was disgusted. Behind her, Wybie got on his feet, slowly steeping back, hands gripping his coat collar. The cat ran over to the Coraline's side, his eyes never turning from the beldam. Wybie stopped halfway, his eyes as big as saucers.

"Coraline?" said 7, walking up to her. The twins still had a grip on her arms. They were clearly scared.

"I don't know." She looked back at the Other Mother. There was still green electricity cracking around her chest, but now it was working its way up the rest of her body. The beldam's only good eye looked down at the her body. She held her hands up to her face as through they were going to fall off. And then in an instant, it happened. The Other Mother's arms fell off. Coraline kept her eyes focused on the talisman. She activated it and placed it in that slot. She did it and now she didn't know what was happening. She did everything right. She felt like she was in an inescapable nightmare.

"Coraline, what's happening?" asked 7. Beside her, 9 was looking at Coraline with that guilty look. Coraline didn't know, nor did she understand why he was guilty. Maybe he though he was wrong and that the beldam was going to win.

A croak escaped the Other Mother's throat. Coraline saw the black blood pouring from her like a waterfall. How did she even have blood now that she had machine features? Her only red eye dimmed and it sparked, smoking coming from the socket. She was indeed blind now. She shrieked, pawing at her melted eye. In her chest, the talisman sent electricity up her spines and up to her head and probably whatever she had for a brain.

9 stepped closer Coraline's side. He watched with amazement as the Other Mother at last fell apart. Just like that. Her torso split open, her upper body falling back in the ground. And just like that, a green light pillar shot into the sky. Coraline's mouth fell open, her hand clasped to her chest. Wybie, in the meantime, his behind the tree, gawking at the strange pillar. He thought it looked like one of those alien abductions he'd seen in movies. He looked over to the Other Mother, her body was oozing black blood. He saw her face leaking black blood, like she were melting. Maybe it was because she _was_.

Coraline sat there, frozen. Nervous butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Her heart felt as though it was going to explode. She opened her mouth, trying to say something, but noting came out. Just a frightened stare was all she sported.

The light pillar was absorbed by the sky, thunder roared. Was it about to rain? Coraline waited. Over by the tree, Wybie emerged, walking slowly, keeping his cool. He had his crowbar in case something happened. His gaze focused on the Other Mother. He and Coraline crept closer. The Other Mother was now just what she had always been: a limp, lifeless doll. They could see her ribcage, so his he had been human once. And combine with the machine's from 9's home, she went above and beyond every creature. Now, she was useless. She was dead, that's what Coraline and Wybie concluded. It was over.

3 and 4 scurried up to the beldam's corpse. They stood before the body and stood there, too afraid to get any closer. 9 and 7 joined them, fascinated and frightened by the beldam's body. Her main concern was the talisman. Did it survive? Did it kill her? Coraline looked closer and saw the talisman to be completely unharmed. It was whole and totally in one piece. Its slots closed in a second. It no longer glowed. It was just how it was before.

9 looked back at the well, it was still glowing. The portal was still opened, they could still make it.

"The well," he said, grabbing 7's attention. "It's still glowing. Does that mean there's still time?"

Wybie and Coraline looked at the sky, the twins followed their gaze and looked too. The full moon was still out, the three stars still twinkled next to it. They're probably was time for them to go.

9 and 7 were about ready to get the twins when a voice spoke. It wasn't Coraline's or Wybie's. It was someone else's. Someone that was familiar with the stitchpunks. When they turned around, looking at the well, they could not believe what they were seeing.


	15. Chapter 15

**I..so...in this chapter, we have 1, 5, 2, 6, and 8 in this one. It's their souls. I know I said I wasn't going to have them here, but I guess I should've been more specific. When I starts having them appear in Coraline's dreams, I couldn't help it. Besides, this was bound to happen, because I already planned that from the beginning.**

 **Okay, that's enough taking. Onto the story.**

* * *

They could not believe it at first, but it was happening. 1, 5, 2, 6, and 8. Their souls came out of the well and now they were here.

Coraline crawled up to the well to get a closer look. They were just how she saw them in her dreams. They were here. But why? Why were they here?

7 was speechless. It was as though it was a dream but she was seeing them with her own eyes. She finally convinced herself that they were really here and not a dream. She was just overjoyed.

3 and 4 waved to 8 and he smiled back at them. He was glad to see them again.

"Are they...?," Wybie uttered, "are they the...?"

"The others?" 9 finished for him. Wybie could only nod. But this...this was the moment he's been waiting for.

"How are they...?" Coraline spoke.

"I don't know." 9 said.

"We can explain." said 1. He floated up to Coraline and her friends. The others glided on towards them.

"Okay." Coraline said, lifting her hand. 1 floated above her palm, giving off a welcoming vibe. He gazed at Coraline a second or two before explaining his presence.

"We have been watching," he said. "We've been watching since the first moment 9, 7, and the twins were brought to this world."

"But there was a reason they ended up in this world." 5 spoke. "Because we made it so."

"What?" Coraline uttered.

"What do you mean?" Wybie said, furrowing his brow. He felt a nudge, the cat was rubbing against his leg, finally having the courage to come out of hiding.

"I don't understand." 9 said.

"We were there when you are all sucked into the mirror." 1 said. "We knew that something was going to happened, so we watched. That was when we saw—"

"Her." 6 interjected, pointing his pen-nib finger at the dead and blackened corpse.

"You mean her?" Coraline asked meekly.

"Yes." 2 said.

"We saw that she was going to take you." 5 was saying to 9. "And you." He looked over at 7 and the twins. "So we had to send you somewhere else. Someplace safe. Some place like..."

"Here." Coraline said. She looked over at Wybie. He too was surprised.

"But the beldam," said 1, "wouldn't relent. She tried. She tried many ways to get to you, Coraline."

"In your dreams." 6 said, gliding closer, his mismatched eyes protruding.

"She invaded your dreams to get to 9." said 5. "So we had to fight her."

"She fought with us." 1 said. "We fought back, but when it became too much, we had to wait in hiding until the right moment."

The twins blinked their optics, shivers ran up their metal spines. 7 and 9 could only imagine what it was like.

"We waited." 1 continued. "It was only a matter of time until you and your friend defeated the beldam."

"We used the beldam's seeing orbs for help." 2's gaze turned to the black cat. Wybie looked down and kind of slightly smiled at his helpfulness.

"We knew she wanted the talisman to get to your world." 5 uttered. "We saw that she made gateways to get ahold of the beasts from the Emptiness and use their parts to merge with them. She found parts of the Fabrication Machine, and we knew we were too late."

"But not for you." 6 said.

Coraline took a moment to take this in. The Other Mother infiltrated the Emptiness, the home where 9 came from. She used her magic to open portals to get beast parts. And she found the deadliest one: the B.R.A.I.N.. The socket! Coraline got up and tore back to the beldam's corpse. She kneeled before her and tried to remove the talisman. She was afraid it was stuck in there forever, but she managed to take it out in a second. It was whole, undamaged. She was glad, because 9 would be needing it to return home.

"The talisman." she said, standing up. "You said that the talisman could..."

"Take them home?" said 1.

"Yes." 6 chimed, nodded.

"But we had to wait until the full moon." 5 explained. "She had taken enough power to break through the portal that we had to wait longer before we could do anything."

"When you you killed her, that's when we knew it was safe." said 1. "We came out of the dark and here we are now."

"Wow." Wybie said.

Coraline didn't know how to feel or what to say. Was there something to say? She looked down at the talisman. She didn't know what to think about this thing anymore. It felt like a dangerous thing to have, if it fell into the wrong hands again, Coraline might not be able to save 9 when it happens.

"It's alright." 1 said, startling Coraline out of her thoughts. "It wasn't your fault. No one was expecting this. Neither were we." He motioned to 5, 2, 8, and 6. They gave Coraline neutral but reassuring looks. Coraline felt the dark cloud clear away from her head. She felt the whole world light up.

"But why did you guys come back?" Wybie inquired. "I mean, it was all over for you guys, and coming back..."

"They're our family." 5 said. "We've been through tough times."

"From the Machine to the war." 8 said, which was actually the first thing he said since arriving here.

"We couldn't let them fall victim to the beldam." said 6 very seriously.

"Even in death, we still found a way to help out." said 2.

There was a brief, but eternal silence. Coraline didn't whether to say setting or stay quiet. Either was content, but a little sad and, to a degree, satisfied. Now she was ready to let go.

Wybie looked up at the sky, focusing on the moon. He saw the three little stars, he wonders how long it would be until they disappeared.

"Do you know what some people say about the stars?" 2 said, gliding towards Coraline.

"No." Coraline shook her head.

"They say that stars are actually souls." he said.

Coraline kind of blinked her eyes. This was a silly thing to say, she never heard something like that before.

3 and 4 crept closer to Coraline and flickers lights from their eyes. The blue-haired girl glimpsed at them, kind of furrowing her brow, trying to understand their flickers. Coraline looked back at 2, still wondering.

"So you say everything?" 9 asked, kind of trying not to sound naive. But it was obvious, so he tried to not look too ignorant.

"Yes." 5 replied, smiling. 9 felt a jolt spark in his chest. Maybe it was the nostalgia or the idea of having him and the others here. He was just glad to see them again.

"Every soul, every human on earth...becomes a star in the heavens." 6 said.

"Wow," Coraline lilted. She gazed at the sky, imagining herself become a star when she died. It probably felt amazing.

The black cat rubbed against Coraline's arms, making Coraline shiver. She looked at the talisman, trying to avoid the one thing she's been trying to avoid.

"I guess it's time for you guys to go now, huh?" She handed the talisman to 9. The zippered stitchpunk kind of curled his lip, trying to force a smile, but in the end, he couldn't muster up the courage.

7 walked up to 9 and placed her hand on his shoulder. 9 looked over at her and smiled this time. Not a happy smile, or a sad smile. But he was bittersweet, to say the least.

1 glided to Coraline. "I want to say I'm proud of you. You and your friend."

Wybie sort of smiled nervously and chuckled.

"And there's something I want you to have." 1 floated towards the well.

Coraline got on her feet, following him. Behind her, Wybie kind of timidly sidled along. 2, 6, 5, and 8 hovered above the well, waiting for Coraline. She saw something come out of the well. It was something green. It looked like some sort of of jewel. An emerald? Coraline saw that it was gliding towards her, she held out her hand. The object was lime green, it felt rubbery like an eraser. She looked more closely, and noticed its pointy top.

"What is it?" Coraline asked.

Wybie leaned in and observed the pencil-like object.

"You can use this gem to contact 9 again." said 1. "You are our ally now and we trust you. Use this gem to draw the symbols on a wall, and it will appear in the Emptiness."

"So it's kind of like a cellphone, right?" Wybie asked. The look on 1's face told him he didn't know what a cellphone was. But it was to be expected, so Wybie wisely dropped it.

"Will I ever get to see you guys again?" Coraline asked, surveying each stitchpunk.

"Of course," said 2, smiling gently, he floated to her, raising a hand. He lightly caresses her cheek. To Coraline, it felt like a light breeze.

"That gem connects this world to ours," said 1. "It has a power more stronger than the talisman, so use it wisely."

"I will." Coraline beamed.

3 and 4 gave the cat some final goodbye strokes. The cat nuzzled the twins and made his way back to Coraline's side. The hooded twins walked up to the well, gazing once or twice at 2 and 5 to get some kind of reassurance. They looked over at 8 and he nodded to the, telling them that they would be fine if they jumped. So, without another thought, 3 and 4 held hands and jumped into the well. 7 rushed over in a panic, gazing down at the hole in fear and amazement. They were gone, just like that. But that's not just all.

7 looked closer, and deep down at the bottom, there was something unbelievable. She expected to see water but instead, it was a speckled night sky. Or perhaps she was just imagining it. It must've bee that because her vision warped and all she saw was a dark, dismal pit. She looked over at 9 and cocked her head, telling him it was time to go.

9 did so, and he gripped his light staff, and the talisman in the other hand. He was feeling sad and happy at the same time. He was going to miss Coraline and Wybie, but he knew he would one day see her again. But still, he felt painfully lonely. He looked over is shoulder, focusing on Coraline and trying to look brave. The blue-haired girl smiled and gave him a tiny nod. With that, 9 smiled back and grasped 7's hand.

The two jumped into the well. A green light illuminated from within and later it dimmed. Coraline gazed at the sky, the full moon was still out. There were no clouds to block it out. And the stars were still twinkling. Those three little stars. She looked over at the Other Mother's body, what was left of it. It later turned into black dust being blown away by some strange wind. She was gone.

Wybie looked down into the well to see any trace of the portal. There was only a bleak darkness down below. It was gone, the portal was closed.

It was over this time. And Wybie and Coraline wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

 **This isn't the end. I still have to write that. It'll be simple and straightforward. I hope you're all enjoying this story. ^_^**


	16. Chapter 16

**So here it is. The final chapter. Whew, that took forever. Hehehe. Well, onto the story.**

* * *

One week passed.

A week passed after 9, 7, and 3 and 4 left. The souls of the fallen stitchpunks returned back to the afterlife, and that was all Coraline saw after that night.

Today, she was sitting outside in the garden. She was wearing her wine-colored dress, and black ballet flats. Her parents left an hour ago to pick her friends up from the airport. They were arriving today. With all that's happened this whole month, it was time Coraline spent some time with her friends and not worry.

She gazed up at the sky, clouds scudding the peaceful, tranquil blue. She smiled and imagined the stitchpunks watching her. And they might be right now.

They couldn't believe a whole week passed. Coraline and Wybie felt like a only a few days had passed. Time flies when you're recovering from a traumatic experience. At least, that's what Coraline told herself.

Everything was changing right before her eyes. Since the full moon Coraline felt like herself again. She didn't know why, she just did. Coraline looked at the pathway to the forest. Wybie was going to come soon. He met Coraline's Michigan friends last summer, and it was going to be fun having them back so they could hang out and have fun. It was going to be great.

The full moon night was an eventful one; it was a good thing Coraline's parents came home around midnight. They didn't even notice anything from that night on account of being at the boss's birthday party. When they asked Coraline what she and Wybie did all night, she just said they played board games and watched a movie. That seemed to have convinced them.

The green gem Coraline was given was safely hidden away in a box in the back of the closet. She made sure to keep it safe, so her parents don't find it. She wondered when she would be able to see 9, 7, and the twins again. She really liked them. She saw herself in each of them. That lightheartedness in 9; the twins' curiosity; 7's fierce and bold confidence. She had that the whole time, she just needed to remember to use it. Coraline didn't know how forgetful people could be when they're tangled up. It was confusing, and they needed time to remember. She wondered if she'll ever forget the stitchpunks. The thought disturbed her, so she blocked it away. She was never going to forget them. They were her friends. They were practically like family.

All these adventures she had, it made her think about what other adventures she would have. The possibilities were endless. Then again, nothing really seemed to end. She would have a lot of adventures in the future. Coraline didn't know know when that would happen, but speculated it would be happening soon. She just wanted to see it all unravel.

She wondered whether she should tell Heather and Mike about her adventures or not. Last summer she didn't tell them, and this year...this year... Coraline didn't know whether to tell them or not. They probably wouldn't believe it. They would probably think it was all a fairytale or something. Looking back, it all seemed like one.

The sun shined on her, making her blue hair glisten. Coraline liked that. The red tulips in her garden shined as those they were glossed. The fantasy garden from the Other World seemed more like a dream than a memory. And she hoped it would stay that way.

In a few years, the whole Other World experience would seem more like a long-forgotten dream. Coraline was happy the Other Mother was finally gone. She was happy knowing that she would no longer be harming other people. It was the happiest day of her life.

She sighed, delighted. "I know you guys might be watching, but I miss you." she said. "I miss you guys running around in my room, especially the twins and their playing. I miss you, 7. I miss 9. I even miss 1, and 2. And 6. And 5. And even 8." She looked down at the ground, quickly glimpsing at her shoes, thinking of what to say. "I don't know where you are now, even though I know you're in the your own world, but...I still feel I don't know where you guys are." She looked around at the garden, at the trees, anywhere. "But I miss you guys, and I hope you're feeling the same. I wish we can meet again someday."

Coraline looked down at the cobblestones. She was lost in thought, thinking about the other night. She defeated the Other Mother for good, and yet, she felt like she hadn't done anything. A part of her said she was accomplished. Another part said she felt inadequate. And the other part said she was somewhere between finishing an beginning. Finishing and beginning what? She didn't know. Coraline looked up at the tree line and wondered about her friends.

She drew in her legs, still thinking. She wondered how this all came to be. She wondered why this happened to her. Why her and not someone else? Coraline wondered it was because she just had bad luck. But meeting the stitchpunks was not bad luck. That was more like fate. Fate. And maybe even destiny. Destiny and fate? She didn't know what this was, but she was sort of okay with this. She probably was going to see 9 again. And she just needed to draw the symbols with her gem.

A voice resonated in the wind.

"Coraline!"

It was Heather's voice. Coraline whipped around, grabbing the edge of the bench. She was here. She and Mike.

"Guys!" Coraline jumped off the bench and ran over to her friends like a cheetah. She immediately hugged her friends and it was a happy reunion after that.

"I missed you guys so much." said Coraline.

"We missed you too." said Heather.

"Where's Ol' Wyborne?" Mike then said. "Isn't he coming?"

"He is, he's just running a little late," said Coraline.

The three walked to the bench, eager to talk about their day, their plans, past adventures from last year.

"So how you've guys been?" Coraline asked.

"Great, Coraline," replied Heather, nodding. She pushed her glasses to her nose. "What about you?"

"Ohh, just same old, same old." Coraline answered simply.

"Nothing different?" Mike said.

"Well, I started learning Russian a few months ago." Coraline said. "It pretty hard at first, but with practice and some last minute pop quizzes, you can tease your mom and dad with some useful Russian."

"Wow," said Mike.

Heather chuckled.

"But seriously, guys, we're gonna have fun this summer." Coraline cheeped. She wrapped Heather and Mike in a warm, welcoming hug. "Just like last year."

"Well, for now, let's just focus on this summer." Mike said, straightforward. He faced Coraline. "Cause next year is going to be awesome, when you come visit us in Michigan next summer."

"Really?" Coraline perked up. "Next year? Wow...I can't believe it. It be great to see Michigan again. Go to the Detroit Zoo. See the Frederik Meijer Gardens." She glanced at the sky and swooned. "It's gonna be great, just like old times."

Heather sat back, crossing her legs. "Is your dad making one of his special recipes?"

"You know him." Coraline retorted. "He's always got something cooking."

"Remember the casserole? Back in Michigan?" Mike said. "It was like eating slime."

"That's what I thought!" Coraline chirruped.

The three shared a laugh, reminiscing their old adventures.

The sound of a motorcycle racing by sounded in the ambience. They knew that motorcycle, it was Wybie's. Coraline, Heather, and Mike raced out of the garden to see Wybie already parking his bike by the fallen tree.

"Hey, Wyborne." Mike said. "What's up?"

Wybie kind of chuckled nervously. He put his skull mask on the seat.

"Hey look!" Heather pointed to a forest path. They all turned around, the black cat was walking their way.

"That cat's still here?" Mike said, incredulous. "Thought he'd kick the bucket by now."

Coraline rolled her eyes and shook her head. It was always fun joking around like this.

"Come on, let's go explore." Heather said, tugging Coraline's arm.

Coraline turned around, smiling. "Alright."

So now the four of them went into the garden, the black cat followed them.

"You should see these flowers I got." Coraline prattled. "They're cornflowers, and I also got bleeding hearts. Oh! And we bought this cool birdbath."

The four wandered around aimlessly, passing the time throughout the sunny day. Just when they were about to venture into the forest, Coraline stopped and looked over at her house. She was looking at her window, imagining the stitchpunks standing there, watching. She wondered what they might doing right now. Maybe they were safe, maybe they were fighting a beast. All she knew was that were back home, and that was all she needed to know.

"Come on, Loper!" Mike hollered from across the tree line.

Coraline smiled, spirits lifted. She looked back at her friends. All of a sudden she was reminded of the four stitchpunks. All of a sudden she felt less alone. She felt whole and safe inside. For all that's happened this past month, she finally found a light in the dark. She was standing tall and ready to take the world by storm. Her new journey wasn't over yet, she was just getting started. She wasn't done. There was still more out there for her, just waiting to be discovered. And she knew she wouldn't be alone. She had her friends. And she would not trade them for anything in the world.

They would be together from now until forever.

* * *

 **Now that we've reached the end, it's time I say something. First of all, thank you for reading my story. Second of all, this story was great and I'm thankful that I wrote this. And third of all knowing that I was the only one who wrote a 9/Coraline crossover makes me feel more alive. It's just...this is all just great.**

 **I know what you're thinking, you want a sequel. Well...I don't know about that. I don't know if I want to do that. I know it'll mean a lot to all of you if I write this sequel, and it would be fulfilling for _me_. But...no. I don't think a sequel is possible. If anything, _I_ would be the only one writing these Coraline/9 crossovers, while everyone else reads and writes this, that, or the other. So, I can't wait around for someone else to write something, and it's not fair. For me _or_ anyone else. **

**Knowing that you all enjoyed this story warms me up. :)**


End file.
